A deputy defense minister has been arrested in Russia on corruption charges

The court later allowed his arrest.

The country’s state media reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the arrest of a senior official, a longtime ally of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, an extremely rare move in the context of the war in Ukraine.

Supporters of the fight against corruption in Russia have been criticizing what they say is widespread bribery during Putin’s rule for many years.

T Ivanov, 48, managed procurement and construction projects for the armed forces and was involved in the reconstruction of the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

“The Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation was sent to the pre-trial detention center,” the press service of the Moscow Courts said.

He faces up to 15 years in prison for taking bribes “on an especially large scale,” it said in a statement.

T. Ivanov himself denies the charges, his lawyer told the state news agency TASS.

T. Ivanov divorced his wife so that she could avoid EU sanctions

The European Union imposes sanctions on T. Ivanov, a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Defense responsible for the construction of military facilities.

The Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), banned in Russia due to alleged extremism and founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, conducted one of its corruption investigations against T. Ivanov in 2022.

FBK then indicated that the deputy minister oversaw and profited from construction projects in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which Moscow came under control of in 2022 after a siege lasting several months.

According to FBK, T. Ivanov also divorced his wife so that she could avoid EU sanctions.

Several independent Russian publications believe that T. Ivanov and his family amassed wealth from so-called gratitude fees for contracts concluded in the ministry.

A luxurious lifestyle

In December 2022, A. Navalno’s team claimed to have received thousands of leaked e-mails of T. Ivanov’s wife, Svetlana Maniovič, from which one can understand a luxurious lifestyle far exceeding his official salary.

Navalny’s associates said she spent hundreds of thousands of euros on luxury cars, jewelry, clothes, parties, and luxury real estate and yacht rentals in the south of France.

They said some of the transactions were conducted through third parties, including Defense Ministry contractors.

The Kremlin stated that President V. Putin is in constant contact with S. Shoig, but refused to directly comment on T. Ivanov’s detention.

“An investigation will be conducted,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, warning that speculation could arise.

T. Ivanovas stood in a glass cage in court on Wednesday. He was wearing a military uniform.

According to the court, investigators believe that he was involved in a criminal conspiracy aimed at taking “especially large-scale bribes in the form of real estate services in contracts and subcontracts with the Ministry of Defense.”

No further information is being released.

The judge remanded him in custody until at least June 23. He will be held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, notorious for harsh conditions, TASS reported.

“Deputy S. Shoigu”

According to analysts, high-ranking government officials are rarely detained, usually due to internal political conflicts.

Activists say the huge sums being spent on the war in Ukraine have given officials new opportunities to enrich themselves through secret procurement deals.

Russian war bloggers, who had criticized S. Shoigu’s leadership of the attack for a long time, quickly connected T. Ivanov with the Minister of Defense on social networks.

The “Grey Zone” Telegram channel associated with the mercenary group “Wagner” repeatedly called T. Ivanov “Shoig’s deputy”.

“Like S. Šoigu, he comes from a family clan,” the report said.

Former Wagner boss Yevgenijs Prigozhin accused S. Shoigu and other officials of the Ministry of Defense of corruption and incompetence before his death under mysterious circumstances last year.

The Ministry of Defense did not comment on T. Ivanov’s detention.

A few hours before the investigators announced the arrest of T. Ivanov, the Deputy Minister of Defense appeared in a video published by the ministry, in which S. Shoigu addressed the highest-ranking military personnel regarding the war in Ukraine.