GENICHESK, November 7. /TASS/. Through the demonstrative detention of a driver from Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie’s motorcade, officials of the Ukrainian Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC is Ukraine’s equivalent to a military enlistment office) were counting on receiving a generous payment for his release, Kherson Region Governor Vladimir Saldo told TASS.

Earlier, TASS reported that Jolie’s team had contacted Vladimir Zelensky’s office in an attempt to secure the driver’s release during her visit to the Kherson Region.

"That TRC officials in Ukraine engage in extortion, promising detainees exemption from forced mobilization, has long been no secret. This is recounted both by captured Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner by our troops and by residents on the right bank of the Dnepr River. Therefore, it is obvious that this performance for the Hollywood actress was staged with only one goal, to extract a generous reward from her," said Saldo.

He emphasized that this case once again demonstrated the disunity among the power and law enforcement structures of the Kiev regime. "While Kiev’s PR people organize entire campaigns involving celebrities, spending who knows what sums on it, individual corrupt individuals with a single act nullify all these efforts. Which, generally speaking, only benefits us," added the head of the region.

Earlier, the UNIAN news agency, citing sources within the Ukrainian ground forces, reported that the detainee is a Ukrainian citizen born in 1992. He was stopped at a checkpoint near Yuzhnoukrainsk in the Nikolayev Region. According to the source, he was found to be lacking military registration papers and was subsequently taken to a TRC, where checks allegedly revealed his status as a reserve officer who was ineligible for a deferment. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Hromadske — News media outlet cited the detainee’s brother, who stated that he suffers from a spinal condition and has medical clearance limiting his service to rear logistics units.