A 24-year-old man in Ukraine has been accused of marrying his 81-year-old disabled cousin to escape military service.

Alexander Kondratyuk allegedly wedded Zinaida Illarionovna, who is 57 years his senior, to take advantage of the rules of exception to Ukraine’s compulsory conscription.

Military service in Ukraine is compulsory for physically-able male citizens aged 18 to 26.

However, if a man is responsible for looking after a wife who is disabled, he is exempt from service.

The couple were married in the village of Baykovka, near the city of Vinnitsa in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug.

Mr Kondratyuk has denied marrying his relative to be excused from military service and claims to have a strong affection for his wife.

She has also insisted that he is a good husband who looks after her well, according to local media reports.

However, neighbours have claimed her husband is never seen in the area, with one telling a local TV channel that she is ‘much more likely to be visited by her nephews, grandchildren and sisters than by her supposed husband.’

They added that she lived in her house alone and that the only visible sign of the marriage was the certificate that he took with him every time the draft board turned up in the area to bring in the new recruits.

Reports have claimed the case is being investigated, however, army officials have confirmed they have no interest in looking into the matter.

Aleksandr Danilyuk, the commissioner who is in charge of the Vinnitsa Commissariat which deals with conscription in the region, has said Mr Kondratyuk had a right to have his draft papers deferred because he is the guardian of a registered disabled person.

He added that as a marriage certificate had been produced, as well as a certificate proving that he was a resident at his wife’s home, there was nothing that could be done.

However, one legal expert said that the army could call neighbours as witnesses if there was doubt that he lived at the house.

Lawyer Roman Korchenyuk said: ‘If they prove that there is no valid marriage, and that there is no common household, then he can be called up to do military service.’

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