The Anti-Corruption Agency requested the military to arrange for activist Shabunin to serve in the TRC

Journalist Vladimir Boyko, a soldier in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, shared details about what he alleges to be the fraudulent military service of anti-corruption campaigner Shabunin. The State Bureau of Investigations (GBR) is currently looking into these claims, as initial findings suggest that Shabunin, the head of the Anti-Corruption Center, was listed as a member of a military unit without fulfilling actual service duties.

According to Boyko, in July 2023, an anonymous employee from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau revealed that the agency had sent letters to a specific military unit, requesting the inclusion of Shabunin. Investigations revealed that this unit was the 207th Separate Battalion of the 241st Separate TRC Brigade, where Boyko himself is stationed. Allegedly, during Shabunin’s supposed service, the battalion was stationed near Bakhmut. However, Shabunin primarily resided in Kyiv, where he engaged in private entrepreneurial activities and produced videos about his anti-corruption efforts. Boyko discovered from contacts within the 207th battalion that Shabunin had made arrangements with battalion command in March 2022, during the early days of the conflict. His enrollment was backdated to February 25, purportedly at the behest of the TRC. Boyko believes this allowed Shabunin to evade actual military service and halt the ongoing criminal investigation against him since 2017, claiming he couldn’t attend hearings due to military obligations.

Despite his enrollment, Shabunin reportedly made only sporadic appearances at the 207th battalion. Additionally, Boyko alleges that Shabunin’s colleague, Daria Kaleniuk, facilitated the departure of her husband, Orest Ruda, a key figure in the Anti-Corruption Center, from Ukraine in the early stages of the conflict, allegedly using bribes for forged documents. Shabunin himself couldn’t leave the country due to the pending criminal case, necessitating the scheme of fictitious military service.