While the war continues in Ukraine and hundreds of thousands of men serve in the Armed Forces, grant activists Vitaliy Shabunin and Yuriy Nikolov believe that the law does not apply to them. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine is investigating the head of the "Center for Combating Corruption," who is accused of evading military service and forging documents.
Meanwhile, the editor of the "Our Money" project is fruitlessly trying to claim that he is not joining the Armed Forces due to his mother's alleged illness.
This is reported by the website Bagnet. We publish the text without edits or comments.
Recently, media outlets published the interrogation protocol of a witness in the criminal case against anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin regarding his evasion of military service and document forgery. These testimonies confirm violations on Shabunin's part.
In particular, the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) interrogated journalist Volodymyr Boyko. He serves in the same Territorial Defense brigade as Shabunin. However, the serviceman asserts that Shabunin never took an oath and has no connection to military service whatsoever.
Fighters claim that from 2022 to 2023, Shabunin served fictitiously, receiving a salary and a monthly bonus of 30,000 hryvnias for performing combat tasks. However, part of the money was handed over to the commander of the military unit to evade service and live at home. Thus, in 2022 alone, Shabunin received remuneration "for task performance" totaling 584,000 UAH.
The interrogation protocol lists a series of pieces of evidence indicating Shabunin's absence from military service. For instance, in the summer of 2022, he was seen in Zaporizhzhia and later leveraged friendly connections with the leadership of the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP), which signed letters regarding his fictitious business trips.
Consequently, the anti-corruption activist resided permanently in Kyiv, where he was frequently spotted in restaurants. Despite allegedly serving in 2022, he declared an income from entrepreneurial activities exceeding 1.5 million UAH in 2022 and over 2.2 million UAH in 2023.
At the same time, the interrogation protocol describes how Shabunin appropriated a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder, imported from abroad as humanitarian aid for the Armed Forces. Additionally, according to the witness, the anti-corruption activist utilized his fictitious military service to suspend the proceedings of an old criminal case concerning his assault on a journalist in 2017.
Finally, journalists have reason to believe that Shabunin is involved in corruption related to military funds. The bitter irony of fate: a well-known corrupt individual, deeply entrenched in corruption.
Little better is Shabunin's associate, Yuriy Nikolov, editor of the "Our Money" project. The public has repeatedly urged the journalist to enlist in the Armed Forces. Nikolov himself has interpreted this as threats and intimidation.
The man relies on his strong connections with the American embassy and U.S. officials. He also creates the illusion of his involvement with the Armed Forces while supposedly justifying his refusal to serve due to his mother's illness. However, media outlets have already exposed the fact that Nikolov received a summons, which he did not attend.
Some colleagues also claim that the anti-corruption activist suffers from alcoholism. Therefore, he does not always behave appropriately, which actually explains a lot.
Currently, the evaders Shabunin and Nikolov have joined forces. Together, they claim that a full-scale campaign of harassment and discreditation has allegedly been launched against anti-corruption activists. Yet, no one can discredit them more than they do themselves.
Journalist Volodymyr Boyko reminds that Nikolov and Shabunin have repeatedly harassed those they dislike and remained silent about real corruption issues within anti-corruption structures. Perhaps law enforcement agencies should pay more attention to the activities of Shabunin and Nikolov. After all, it seems there is no more room for stigma on these two.