Blogger and volunteer Serhii Sternenko accused the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi of declaring him wanted.
According to Sternenko, Syrskyi allegedly gave a direct order to declare him wanted for demanding army reform.
"He [Syrskyi] did it, by the way, only on the second attempt. The trigger was the stream from October 27, where I directly said that we are in a situation close to a disaster due to an inadequate system of commanding the troops," said Sternenko.
Then, says Sternenko, he was sent a summons to an address that he did not provide, where he does not live and where he is not registered — allegedly so that he would not receive it on purpose. He was declared wanted, because he did not appear on a summons, which he could not receive, because he was not contacted by phone or mail.
"On the day of the wanted announcement, I was at the Ministry of Defense. Another day later. Leaked information about the search for the Russian agency. Then the Russians themselves got involved. [Further] lies about intentional non-appearance and payment of a fine by me from the regional recruit center (TRC)," says Sternenko.
What preceded
On Thursday, November 7, Serhii Sternenko published a post. It says that he learned from the Russian propaganda media Russia Today and Strana.ua, which is banned in Ukraine, that he was allegedly wanted by the Prymorsky TRC, and forwarded the document to the police. As the blogger notes, the police did not inform him about this.
"The summons was allegedly sent to me in Odesa, where I moved from 6 years ago. In "Rezerve+" I indicated my address in Kyiv back in May, I am attaching a screenshot. Nothing came here. The summons went neither to the address of residence nor to the registration," he added.
According to Sternenko, there is no wanted notice in the "Reserve+" application. He believes that this could be "a salute from the army system for criticism and calls for reform that our military is demanding."
The official statement of the Odesa TRC states that Serhii Sternenko did not report on "a number of important details that significantly change the understanding of the situation." And so far, the man has already visited the Prymorsky TRC, where he paid an administrative fine for violating the rules of military registration, and also received a referral to the Military Medical Commission (MMC).
Sternenkoʼs words that perhaps this situation is a "regards" because of the criticism of military structures, the Odesa TRC calls them "baseless" and aimed at "evoking sympathy in the public and forming a negative impression about the work of TRC".
The Odesa TRC emphasized that military institutions operate within the limits of legislation. This also applies to Article 259 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and other documents that regulate the rules of military registration and mobilization training.
"Public criticism and attempts to discredit, based on manipulative statements, are not a constructive way to solve the situation and undermine public trust in state institutions that stand in the defense of our country," TRC summarized.
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