50 thousand dollars for a child: former head of Lviv customs Daniil Menshikov tells about attempts to take Ukrainian children abroad

In the first months of the war, many people experienced moments in their lives that will be remembered for a lifetime. And even now the memories of them are shocking. How can you forget when you are offered to "sell" children? And such a "commercial offer" was made to the then head of the Lviv customs office, Daniil Menshikov. He told us about who wanted to take children abroad without any problems and how this shocking story ended in an exclusive commentaryand to UNN.  

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According to Menshikov, he was approached by a foundation with such a proposal, and the amount was offered so that customs officers and border guards would not interfere with this "activity".

   I was contacted by one of, let's say, humanitarian charities. And this was their "business," they were taking children out of the occupied territories. Usually without parents, under the guise of adoption, somewhere else. I don't know how this procedure was regulated. But in order to prevent customs officers and border guards from asking unnecessary questions, they offered 50 thousand dollars per child. It was a "commercial" offer. And this was not an isolated case, there was a large program of taking children abroad. The security forces were aware of it, and I warned them. I don't know how the story ended

Another situation that was equally unpleasant for Daniil Menshikov was the fugitives who tried to escape abroad in women's clothes. He recalls that he did not even want to look at them.

"Those who tried to leave with forged documents or somehow cross the border outside the checkpoints were a slightly different matter. There was an exchange of operational information between different services, there was a clear workout. But those tricksters... Here's a man in a dress or skirt, wearing a wig. He stands there, and for some reason I feel ashamed. It's unpleasant to even remember such characters," Menshikov says. At the same time, he says, there were also pleasant moments at customs during those months, which he recalls with a smile on his face.

"During that time, seven babies were born at the EECP. When the first birth occurred, I received a phone call, was informed and told that the holiday was for absolutely everyone who was at the checkpoint at that moment. I didn't believe it at first. And then one day I came to another checkpoint and was in labor myself. A baby was born! A smiling mother, a smiling father, who was already seeing his beloved abroad in military uniform. And everyone around me was smiling too," Menshikov recalls.