Ukrainian activist states pressure against him as part of “personal vendetta” from army’s top general
Pravda Ukraine
Serhii Sternenko, Ukrainian activist, blogger and volunteer has accused Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, of personally instigating a Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) persecution against him as revenge for criticising the military command system.
Source: Sternenko on social media
Quote: “The situation with my persecution by TRC is a direct order from Syrskyi, who took offence at my calls for military reform. I know this for sure, including when and through whom he issued this order.”
Details: Sternenko stated that his sources in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine informed him about this.
Sternenko believes the primary reason for this vendetta was his livestream on 27 October, where he “explicitly stated that we [Ukraine] are on our way to a disaster due to the poor military command system”.
The blogger believes he was intentionally sent a summons to a wrong address to ensure he wouldn’t receive it, so that he could be prosecuted. Additionally, Sternenko said that this information was “leaked to Russian agents”.
He also labelled the TRC’s claim that he supposedly paid a fine as false.
Background:
- Sternenko stated that he was persecuted for not appearing at the Prymorskyi Recruitment Center in Odesa Oblast as summoned, linking this to his criticism of the military system and calls for reforms. Sternenko explained that the summons was sent to an outdated address where he no longer resided, noting that he had updated his personal data in the Reserve+, a software application designed by the Ukrainian government to digitalise the process of conscription. Moreover, there was no information in the app about him being put on the wanted list (the Ukrainian law demands that men of conscription age, as well as women of certain military specialties, update their personal data in time, otherwise they may be prosecuted)
- The Odesa TRC responded that they act “strictly within the law” and stated that Sternenko omitted several important details, including that he had already visited the Primorskyi Recruitment Center, paid an administrative fine for violating military registration rules and had been referred for a military medical commission.
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