Timur Ivanov, head of military construction projects, was arrested on April 23 and accused of accepting large-scale bribes. Two more men were arrested as part of this process.
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A Moscow court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by lawyers for Russia’s deputy defense minister to transfer him to house arrest while he faces bribery charges.
Timur Ivanov, head of military construction projects, was arrested on April 23 and accused of accepting large-scale bribes.
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After the hearing at Moscow City Court, Russian news agencies reported that his lawyer, Murad Musayev, claimed that the case involved charges of around one billion rubles (€10.2 million) and that Ivanov had been suspended from his duties.
Two more men were arrested as part of this process.
It is rare for a senior official to be charged with a crime in Russia and it is unknown what motivated the decision to arrest him.
The team of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny carried out anti-corruption investigations and accused Ivanov – an ally of Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu – of leading a lavish lifestyle.
Ivanov, 48, was targeted by US and European Union sanctions in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian media reported that Ivanov supervised some of the construction in Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city devastated by bombing and occupied by Russian forces at the start of the war.
Zvezda, the official television channel of the Russian Armed Forces, reported in summer 2022 that the Ministry of Defense was constructing an entire residential block in Mariupol and broadcast footage of Ivanov inspecting construction sites and newly constructed buildings.
Few other high-level officials were the subject of legal proceedings in Russia.
In April 2023, former Deputy Minister of Culture Olga Yarilova was arrested and charged with embezzlement of more than 200 million rubles (two million euros).
Yarilova, who held the position between 2018 and 2022, is on trial and faces a possible prison sentence of seven years.
Former Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2017 for accepting a bribe of two million dollars (1.85 million euros) from one of Putin’s main allies.
His trial was seen as part of infighting between Kremlin clans. Ulyukayev, now 68 years old, was granted early release from prison in May 2022.
Source: Observadora
