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Former Ukraine border guard chief embroiled in bribery scandal dismissed from military

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Former Ukraine border guard chief embroiled in bribery scandal dismissed from military
Serhii Deineko, then head of Ukraine's State Border Service, at a checkpoint on the border between Ukraine and Poland in Lviv Oblast on Dec. 21, 2024. (Michael Sorrow/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The former head of the State Border Guard has been dismissed from the Ukrainian military following his being charged in a bribery scandal, Suspilne reported on Feb. 6.

Serhiy Deineko, who headed the State Border Guard from 2019 to Jan. 4, 2026, was charged last month in relation to a 204,000 euro bribery scheme.

In 2023 border guards received at least 204,000 euros for facilitating the smuggling of cigarettes through the border between Ukraine and the European Union, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said.

The smugglers used vehicles with fake diplomatic license plates whose passengers were relatives of Ukrainian diplomats, according to the NABU.

Their diplomatic passports enabled them to cross the border without inspections, the bureau said.

Spokesperson for the border service, Andriy Demchenko, told Suspilne on Feb. 6 was dismissed from military service by order dated Feb. 2.

The exact reason for the dismissal was not specified.

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Chris York

News Operations Editor

Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.

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