MOSCOW: Moscow’s Basmanny Court has ordered that Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov be remanded for two months while he is invest...
MOSCOW: Moscow’s Basmanny Court has ordered that Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov be remanded for two months while he is investigated for allegedly taking bribes.
His acquaintance, entrepreneur Sergey Borodin, whom investigators consider Ivanov’s accomplice, was also arrested. TASS has gathered the key takeaways about the case.
Circumstances of case
- Ivanov and Borodin are accused of taking large bribes (Russian Criminal Code Article 290, Part 6). According to the investigation, they "criminally conspired with third parties" in order to receive a bribe "as providing monetized services when conducting contracted and subcontracted work" for the Defense Ministry.
- According to the investigation, Borodin is friends with Ivanov. A source in law enforcement agencies told TASS that his company was "fulfilling defense contracts" of the military agency.
- No other details about the case were made available.
- Commenting on reports that Ivanov is purportedly suspected of high treason, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov played these allegations down. "All these deliberations are nothing more than speculations around this case."
Position of defense
- Ivanov denies his guilt, attorney Denis Baluyev told TASS.
- According to the lawyer, evidence of money being transferred to Ivanov as a bribe is non-existent. "The money as the object of the bribe is simply absent."
Circumstances of detainment
- Law enforcement agencies told TASS that Ivanov was detained at his workplace. On the morning of April 23 he was participating in a board meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry.
- Peskov earlier told journalists that Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed on Ivanov’s arrest while Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu was "informed in advance."
- During the investigation, Ivanov will be held in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention facility.
What is known about Ivanov
- Ivanov was born in Moscow in 1975. In 1997, he graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University and in 2004 - from the International Academy of Marketing and Management. He holds an advanced degree in economics.
- In 1999-2012, he worked in the fuel and energy sphere, in 2012, he was a deputy head of the government of the Moscow Region (when Shoigu was the regional governor).
- In 2013-2016, Ivanov was the head of Oboronstroy, a company building housing for the military as well as socially significant and strategic military objects. In May 2016, he was appointed deputy defense minister with his responsibilities encompassing property management, troop accommodation, housing and medical support as well as state defense procurement and acquisition.
Other relevant cases
- The last time the sitting deputy head of a Russian federal ministry was detained was in the summer of 2023. Then Maxim Parshin, deputy head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe. He was dismissed from his post soon thereafter.
- In April 2023, Olga Yarilova, who served as deputy culture minister in 2018-2022, was arrested. She was suspected of embezzlement while implementing the Pushkin Card project which enables young people to visit cultural events free of charge.
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