A Russian court remanded the deputy defense minister in custody Timur Ivanov, who was yesterday accused of accepting a bribe, was announced by the court after his arrest.
Ivanov, who has been one of Sergei Shoigu’s 12 deputies since 2006, was primarily responsible for construction projects at the Russian Defense Ministry.
His close friend Sergey Borodin was also detained for 2 months, as according to the investigators the two were involved in a corruption conspiracy.
“According to the investigators, Ivanov and Borodin entered into a criminal conspiracy with third parties, who united with them in advance to commit a crime by an organized group – receiving particularly large amounts in the form of providing services of a property nature during negotiations and subcontracting work for the needs of the Ministry of Defense,” the court said, Interfax reports.
Ivanov was detained on Tuesday at his workplace, and investigators searched 23 properties owned by his family. He has pleaded not guilty.
After the start of the war, his name appeared in an investigation of the team of the late Alexei Navalny. The opposition accused Ivanov of building personal real estate in a number of regions of Russia at the expense of companies that won tenders for contracts with the Ministry of Defense.
