A young Ukrainian man has managed to successfully avoid compulsory
military service by staying married to a woman 57 years his senior for
almost two years. Despite widespread criticism online, the man has the
law on his side.
In late 2017, Alexander Kondratyuk, a young man from the Ukrainian
city of Vinnitsa, received his conscription papers. He was to report to
the nearest military commissariat for enlistment in his country’s one
year military service. All able-bodied Ukrainian men aged between 18 and
26 are required to undergo military service, with one exception. If
such a man were responsible for looking after a disabled wife, he would
be exempt from service. So Alexander somehow convinced his cousin’s
81-year-old disabled grandmother to become his bride, and the couple
have now been married for almost two years. Kondratyuk is 24, so after
two more years he will become too old to undergo military service and
probably divorce his octogenarian wife.
This bizarre case first made news headlines in early 2018,
when the military commissariat in Vinnitsa filed a complaint with the
prosecutor’s office in hopes of getting the marriage between then
22-year-old Alexander Kondratyuk and Zinaida Illarionovna, 57 years his
senior, annulled. They were convinced that Kondratyuk had forged the
marriage documents to avoid military service, but an investigation
showed that the pair had legally gotten married in the village of
Baykovka, near Vinnitsa.
After the civil acts registration office confirmed that Alexander
Kondratyuk’s marriage was legal, he military had no choice but to back
off. However, earlier this month, Ukrainian press brought the story back into the spotlight and asked representatives of the military what they planned to do about this particular conscript.
Aleksandr Danilyuk, the director of the commissariat in charge of
conscription in the Vinnitsa region, told reporters that Kondratyuk has
the right to have his draft papers deferred, because he is the guardian
of a registered disabled person, his wife. And since a valid marriage
certificate as well as a document proving Kondratyuk’s residence at his
wife’s home had been produced, there was nothing the military could do.
24-year-old Kondratyuk continues to deny that he only married
81-year-old Zinaida to avoid military service, and insists that he has
very strong feelings for her. His octogenarian wife also told reporters
that Alexander is a good husband who looks after her. The woman’s
neighbors, on the other hand, told a local TV station that the marriage
was a total sham.
Zinaida Illarionovna is more likely to be visited by her nephews and
grandchildren than by her young husband, according to her neighbors, and
the only proof of their marriage is the certificate that Kondratyuk
always shows the draft board when they come in the area to enlist new
recruits.
Despite the controversial nature of the union, the Ukrainian
commissariat has confirmed that it has no interest in pursuing the issue
any further. Alexander Kondratyuk is currently married to a disabled
person, and unless something happens before he turns 27, he is exempt
from military service.
