Corruption episodes of the case of the former first Deputy Minister of Defense have become known
Kommersant has learned new details of the high-profile criminal case of former First Deputy Defense Minister Ruslan Tsalikov. According to the TFR, for the general patronage of commercial structures, he received two bribes — a Honda motorcycle, which his son then rode, and "live" money. The deputy minister brought a leather bag with 50 million rubles directly to work.
According to the Investigative Committee of Russia, Mr. Tsalikov received his first bribe in July 2019 from Anton Abdurakhmanov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bamstroyput, President of the Moscow Figure Skating Federation.
For the "general patronage" of Mr. Abdurakhmanov himself and the organization he heads in obtaining and executing state contracts at the facilities of the Ministry of Defense, the businessman presented the deputy minister with a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle worth 2 million 286 thousand rubles, which was issued on July 3, 2019 to Mr. Tsalikov's son.
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Mr. Abdurakhmanov, 44, who was charged with paying a particularly large bribe (Part 5 of Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), was arrested in absentia in early 2025 and put on the international wanted list in another fraud case (Part 4 of Article 159 OF THE Criminal Code OF THE Russian Federation).
Several executives of a construction company in the process of bankruptcy also became his defendants. Among them is Igor Tushkevich, General Director of Bamstroyput, who was one of the main prosecution witnesses in the case of another former deputy defense minister, Army General Pavel Popov. The latter was charged with embezzlement of Patriot Park funds, bribery and other crimes. His case has been heard in the 235th Garrison Military Court of Moscow since November 2025.
Two episodes of receiving bribes imputed to Mr. Popov are related to the gratuitous provision of an apartment on Frunzenskaya Embankment near the main building of the Ministry of Defense by Bamstroyput in 2014-2024, as well as a Lexus LX 570 SUV. In those years, Bamstroyput OJSC was engaged in the construction of the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation, the successor to the Central Command Post of the General Staff. Mr. Popov himself categorically denies receiving bribes. After Mr. Tushkevich testified against him, he was released from responsibility for giving bribes, as a person who voluntarily reported the crime.
As for the second episode of Ruslan Tsalikov receiving a bribe, the criminal intent of the Deputy Defense Minister, as the investigation found, arose exactly one year later — in April 2020. It was then, according to the TFR, while in his office on Frunzenskaya Embankment, he demanded from the beneficiary of another contractor company of the military department, JSC Military Construction Company (JSC VSK). Vladimir Semenov 50 million rubles. According to the investigation, Mr. Tsalikov estimated at this amount the "general patronage" of the company in obtaining and executing state contracts at the facilities of the Ministry of Defense, as well as "support" on all issues of the current activities of the actual head of JSC "VSK" Evgeny Gorbachev, who once headed JSC "General Directorate of Military Equipment" (GUOV).
According to Kommersant, this episode became known during the investigation by the Investigative Departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of another criminal case — the embezzlement of more than 9 billion rubles, which involved several people, including the first Deputy Minister of Construction of the DPR Yulia Mervaezova, head of the Main Military Construction Directorate No. 8 Vadim Vygulyary, as well as Messrs. Semenov and Gorbachev.
All were charged with fraud on a particularly large scale (part 4 of art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) during the construction of a number of facilities for military camps in Khakassia, the Murmansk region, Tuva, as well as for the Irkutsk military Suvorov School and facilities for military units of the Strategic Missile Forces in the village of Pashino, Novosibirsk region.
At the same time, Yevgeny Gorbachev was already convicted in 2024, having been sentenced to 5.5 years by the Savelovsky Court of Moscow for involvement in the theft of 360 million rubles in 2015-2016. during construction in Arctic radar stations and aviation guidance points. In the case of Mr. Tsalikov, Mr. Semenov and Gorbachev were charged with giving bribes to a group of individuals on an especially large scale (Part 5 of Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
According to the law, a case against bribe-givers can be terminated according to a note to this article, which states that this is possible for persons who voluntarily reported a crime.
Ruslan Tsalikov, the first Deputy Minister of Defense, was detained on March 5. On the same day, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow, at the request of the TFR, sent him under house arrest. The reason for this was the health problems and services to the country of the 69-year-old retired military man. In addition to two episodes of bribery (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code), the investigation accuses him of creating and leading a criminal community (Part 1 of Article 210 of the Criminal Code), which stole more than 6.6 billion rubles from the budget while supplying exorbitant military equipment through JSC Voentorg, 12 episodes of embezzlement (Part 4 of Article 160)., as well as the legalization of part of the stolen funds (Part 4 of Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code). According to Kommersant, Mr. Tsalikov categorically denies his guilt.
Maria Lokotetskaya
