Aleksey Poroshenko has reportedly flouted mobilization law and ignored multiple conscription notices
The eldest son of former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko, Aleksey Poroshenko, is being sought by local law enforcement as a draft dodger, several Ukrainian media outlets wrote on Wednesday, citing sources in the country’s armed forces.
The news comes amid an increasingly violent mobilization drive in Ukraine, as Russian forces advance and chew through Ukrainian troops in Donbass.
According to Ukrainian Law and Business and Strana.ua news outlets, Poroshenko ignored two notices to report to a conscription office, back in October. His failure to respond to the summons is in violation of Ukrainian laws surrounding mobilization. The ex-president’s son is a reserve officer, Strana.ua noted.
Aleksey Poroshenko, his wife, daughter and son live in London and Singapore, according to Ukrainian media. From those two cities, Poroshenko remotely manages a business in Ukraine, which his father signed over to him, according to media reports.
The ex-president’s son reportedly took part in Ukraine’s so-called “anti-terrorist operation” aimed at subduing Donetsk and Lugansk in 2014. However, in the two months the younger Poroshenko served, he was guarded by 20 members of the Ukrainian special forces and didn’t participate in combat, Strana.ua wrote.
His father is currently a suspect in a years-long high treason case, over alleged secret coal deals with representatives in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics during his time in office.
Pyotr Poroshenko is a Ukrainian MP and leader of European Solidarity party, a small opposition party in the country’s parliament.
He was elected president in 2014, just months after the US-backed coup in Kiev, which triggered the conflict in Donbass.
Two months into his tenure, he authorized the Ukrainian army to attack the Donbass city of Donetsk, which ended with the Ilovaysk “cauldron.” Donetsk self-defense forces encircled the Ukrainian troops and destroyed them. The affair prompted Kiev’s Western backers to sue for the first Minsk Agreement – which they later acknowledged was always intended to buy time and arm Kiev against Moscow.
