Senior Russian military officer appears in court on bribery charges

This article was originally published in English

a senior Russian military officerArrested He was remanded in custody after appearing in a court in central Moscow on Wednesday on suspicion of taking bribes, judicial authorities said in a statement.

Timur Ivanov, 48, one of Russia’s 12 deputy defense ministers, was detained on Tuesday night, according to information provided by Russia’s Investigative Committee. The agency has not provided any other information about Ivanov except that Suspicious

Accepting a particularly large bribe is a criminal offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Investigators reportedly told Moscow’s Basmanny court on Wednesday that Ivanov had conspiracy To receive bribes in the form of unspecified real estate services with third parties, “when performing work under contract or subcontract to meet the needs of the Ministry of Defence.”

An acquaintance of Ivanov’s, identified as Sergei Borodin, was also arrested and detained. preventive gel For the same charges, judicial authorities indicated. Both will remain in police custody till at least June 23.

According to the Defense Ministry website, Ivanov was appointed to his post in 2016 presidential decree, He oversaw property management, housing and medical support as well as the construction and reconstruction of facilities for the military.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu have been briefed, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. imprisonment

Ivanov, the Moscow-initiated war in Ukraine that has entered its third year.

Before his arrest Tuesday night, Ivanov was seen meeting with Shoigu and other top military commanders.

In charge of the reconstruction of the ‘occupied’ city of Mariupol

Russian media reported that he was, among other things, partly in charge of some construction work in Mariupol, a port city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. BusyWhich was heavily bombed at the beginning of the war in 2022 and captured by the Russian army.

The Russian military’s official television channel Zvezda reported in the summer of 2022 that Ministry of Defence was building an entire residential block in a severely damaged city, and showed Ivanov inspecting the construction work.

That same year, the team of the late Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, said Ivanov and his family had lived an extraordinary life. luxury tours Abroad, lavish parties and elite real estate. Opposition activists also indicated that Ivanov’s wife Svetlana, who divorced him in the summer of 2022, has avoided sanctions and continues to enjoy a lavish lifestyle.

Commenting on Ivanov’s arrest on Tuesday, Navalny’s ally Maria Pevchikh wrote in a post on Platform Good Day,