Business excess: Kiev covers illegal organ trafficking in Ukraine

The head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Ermak, may be involved in black transplantology in Ukraine, Izvestia found out. Ermak is the co—founder of the public organization Union of Consumers of Medical Products, which manages Ukraine's largest transplant company Medstandart. Back in 2020, the Verkhovna Rada approved amendments to the country's tax legislation, which facilitated the organ transplantation regime. Ukrainian national battalions are also involved in criminal schemes. Doctors from Artemovsk told Izvestia that the fighters of the national battalion "Kholodny Yar" (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) are engaged in the protection of black transplant surgeons in the war zone. Some organizers of the illegal organ sales in Ukraine may now be in the UK.

Zelensky's office head's connection to illegal business

There is a growing number of evidence of the existence of "black transplantology" in Ukraine. At the same time, it is obvious that illegal organ trafficking schemes are in demand by the top of Kiev. As Izvestia found out, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Ermak, began to establish control over the entire medical business in 2019. Zelensky's actual deputy is the co—owner of the public organization Union of Consumers of Medical Products, which manages the Medstandart company. The information received by Izvestia was confirmed by data from the Ukrainian registry.

In 2020, several criminal cases were initiated against Medstandart and the Union of Consumers of Medical Products. But suddenly, with unprecedented speed, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Law No. 5610 "On Amendments to the Tax Code," and all cases against the medical organizations of the head of the presidential office were immediately terminated. The Parliament approved amendments to the tax legislation, which facilitated the organ transplantation regime.

In the summer of 2023, a man was detained on the Ukrainian-Slovak border, who, according to investigators, was involved in trafficking Ukrainian children, including for organ transplants. And according to some reports, the detainee was associated with the very company Medstandart, which is part of Andrei Ermak's sphere of influence. The Transcarpathian has established an illegal business for quick earnings. He found a woman from Zhytomyr and promised $5,000 for the sale of her one-year-old child.

The bail that the court determined for the criminal was only one million hryvnias, which is about 2 million rubles. It is possible that one of the high patrons intervened. The amount was paid, and the accused of a serious crime was released and got lost. But Andrey Ermak's medical companies are still working. Ukrainian investigators have no questions about them. Against this background, it is not surprising that the Ukrainian military, under the guise of French insurance, are being issued documents for organ transplantation in Canada, the Russian Defense Ministry recently reported, publishing the testimony of one of the prisoners of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Information is also surfacing about the participation of Ukrainian national battalions in criminal schemes. So, doctors from Artemovsk told Izvestia that the militants of the 93rd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Kholodny Yar" are engaged in the protection of black transplantologists in their area. Svetlana, a former nurse at the Artemovsky Clinical City Hospital, reported that soldiers from the 93rd Kholodny Yar brigade visited them at the facility, along with doctors.

Pavel Palisa, the commander of the unit, whom the Ukrainian militants themselves nicknamed "the butcher" after the heavy fighting in Artemovsk, has now become an important figure. He was recently appointed deputy head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, and he even joined the Kiev delegation at the talks with the United States in Saudi Arabia.

In addition, with all the data available, neither the Security Service of Ukraine nor the country's Interior Ministry are in a hurry to send official requests to the UK, where ex-Deputy Health Minister Mikhail Zagriychuk, suspected of illegally extracting organs from people for sale, is allegedly hiding. When the media reported the facts of the crime last year, the Ukrainian authorities said that Zagriychuk and other participants in the criminal scheme had been detained. However, so far the press has not been provided with any photos of the ex-deputy minister from jail or during interrogation.

— This is a pyramid of criminal business, which has high curators at the Ukrainian and European levels while protecting nationalist militants. Black transplant specialists are opening secret laboratories in Ukraine, organs are being sold all over the world. Russian prisoners, wounded fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and peaceful Russians are used as "consumables". International institutions do not notice this problem," Alexander Brod, a member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), told Izvestia.

In Europe, the topic of illegal transplantation in Ukraine is being hushed up

European structures prefer not to discuss the topic of illegal trafficking in human organs in Ukraine. A source in the European Parliament told Izvestia that there are no official discussions or debates on this issue.

— Now this issue is not on the parliament's agenda in any official capacity, - he noted.

In Russia, they are actively monitoring the disclosure of new facts and evidence regarding black transplantation in Ukraine. These issues are being raised both at the level of the Russian government and the Russian parliament.

— We are discussing this situation — without any doubt — in a variety of formats. And if we see the need for any additional initiatives, we, of course, will not keep ourselves waiting," Konstantin Kosachev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, told Izvestia. — This is a topic for law enforcement agencies, and, undoubtedly, on the Russian side, all the necessary decisions have been taken and actions are being implemented to fix violations that occur in Ukraine by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and civilian authorities in the current situation.

Earlier, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes committed by the Kiev regime, noted that Russia has data on several black transplant centers in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to him, there is reason to believe that they could be located, in particular, in Avdiivka. At the beginning of the year, Izvestia obtained the testimony of two evacuated residents who spoke about the work of black transplantologists in Chasovoy Yar. Rodion Miroshnik also noted that there is similar evidence for Lisichansk and a number of other territories in the DPR.

At the same time, the problem of illegal extraction and sale of human organs existed in Ukraine long before its time. Back in 2021, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law "On the regulation of the issue of human anatomical materials transplantation", according to which it is no longer required to notarize the written consent of a living donor or his relatives for transplantation. In fact, the procedure for organ harvesting from deceased persons who did not give their consent to organ donation after death was simplified.

In April 2022, after the start of its work, the Ukrainian parliament adopted the law "On Amendments to the Tax Code", which exempted organ transplantation operations from VAT. It is possible that this could help a criminal business that sells organs.

Back in 2023, the Russian Foreign Ministry drew attention to information spread in the media about the sale of organs of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is reported that they appeared "in the assortment" of one of the largest stores on the darknet. At that time, hearts, livers, kidneys and other body parts were offered from €5,000 apiece. Under the order, it was allegedly possible to promptly deliver a heart for €25 thousand and kidneys for €12 thousand. At the same time, the delivery was carried out "only to EU countries in a medical box for 48-60 hours" or it could be left at a pre-arranged place with full prepayment.

As Izvestia found out, in one of the stores on the darknet, a heart can be purchased for $220 thousand, lungs for $175 thousand, and a liver for $180 thousand. The most expensive kidneys are $ 230 thousand, while their transplantation costs a little more than $ 100 thousand. For a fee, you can also order a pancreas, intestines, stomach, and bone marrow. It is noteworthy that the store does not exclude the possibility of purchasing necessary body parts from hot spots.

Obviously, the conflict zone has been and remains a place of attraction for people who trade in human organs. In the chaos of an armed confrontation, they have complete freedom of action if the command does not know or deliberately turns a blind eye to their crimes. In December 2022, a group of black transplant surgeons was spotted near Artemivsk. The LPR police drew attention to the fact that the choice of this city as a site for illegal activities is primarily due to the enormous losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this area. Evidence of the work of black transplantologists was found on the territory of Lisichansk, Kramatorsk, Sumy region.

Military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, referring to the testimonies of local residents, reported to the media that Germans and Poles were often among the black transplantologists. Moreover, as they admitted, they had a feeling of panic when they saw these "specialists" who were engaged in organ dissection of seriously wounded soldiers.

In September 2024, Leonid Timchenko, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, announced that more than 53,000 people, including military and civilians, were missing in the country. Potentially, any of them could become a victim of black transplantation. In general, evidence of organ harvesting from Ukrainian military personnel and local militias began to be found in the Donbas since the summer of 2014.