- Written by Christy Cooney
- BBC news
Russia's deputy defense minister has been charged with bribery and remanded to a Moscow court.
Timur Ivanov is accused of accepting bribes “on a particularly large scale”, although he denies the charges.
Ivanov, 47, was appointed to the Defense Ministry in 2016 and has been in charge of Russia's military infrastructure projects.
Activists have long criticized Russia's level of corruption allegations.
However, since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, such high-profile incidents have become rare.
Ivanov is considered an ally of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and has worked with him for many years. He previously served as deputy prime minister of the Moscow region, where Shoigu briefly served as governor.
The Kremlin denied reports in some Russian media that the real reason for Ivanov's arrest was suspicion of treason.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Currently there are different interpretations of this matter… We need to pay attention to official information.”
He also said that President Vladimir Putin had been informed of Ivanov's detention in advance.
In 2022, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), a group founded by late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, accused Ivanov of participating in “an ongoing corruption project in the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine.”
In particular, he said he benefited from construction projects in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, much of which was destroyed by Russian bombing in the months following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow's Basmany District Court remanded him to two months in prison on charges of engaging in criminal conspiracy with third parties in his role overseeing the construction and renovation of Defense Ministry facilities.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Another man, Sergei Borodin, said to be a friend of Mr. Ivanov, also appeared in a Moscow court on similar charges.
Ivanov's arrest marks an unusual move against Russia's ruling elite, many of whom are believed to have used their position to amass vast personal fortunes.
Some Russian commentators said the arrest was a blow to Shoigu. “If he can't manage it, he's the next one to fall. This person is 100% his subordinate,” one anonymous source told the popular Military Telegram channel.
