The investigation demanded the arrest of the namesake of the head of the personnel headquarters of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Yuri Kuznetsov was detained on suspicion of a criminal offense, TASS reports. It is not yet known what the chief personnel officer in the Ministry of Defense is suspected of, but his home and work were searched.
The investigative authorities appealed to the 235th garrison military Court with a request to detain the head of the Main Personnel Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, in the framework of a criminal case. This was reported in court.
"The court received a request from the investigation for the election of a preventive measure in the form of detention in relation to Kuznetsov Yuri Vasilyevich," the court said.
As reported on the official website of the court, the meeting is scheduled for 18:25 Moscow time on Monday. At the moment, the results of the review of the case materials have not been published. What exactly Kuznetsov is suspected of is also still unknown. The Telegram channel "Military Commanders of the Russian Spring", citing sources, confirms that the lieutenant general has been arrested and placed in jail.
Full namesake
No official information has been received from the Ministry of Defense at the moment. However, in the archives of the 235th garrison military court, a record appeared earlier about the case concerning Yuri Vasilyevich Kuznetsov, whose initials completely coincide with the head of the Main Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defense. From these records it can be seen that on May 13, a meeting was held on the issue of choosing a preventive measure in the form of detention for Kuznetsov. At the same time, it is known that the Lieutenant General was absent from his workplace on that day.
According to TASS, his home and work were searched.
"The Main Military Investigation Department of the RF IC is investigating the case. The investigator has already appealed to the court to elect a preventive measure for the general in the form of detention," the agency interlocutor said.
Kuznetsov has been heading the Main Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defense since May 2023. Prior to that, since 2010, he headed the Eighth Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. This department provided the Ministry of Defense with the necessary information for the effective management of the army. Kuznetsov also had experience in the field of protecting state secrets. He was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of Military Merit and the Order of Honor for his services.
Corruption in the Ministry of Defense
On April 23, the investigative authorities detained Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov. The next day, the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested him. Ivanov was charged with accepting bribes worth at least 1,185 billion rubles in the period from 2018 to 2023. According to investigators, the corruption scheme concerns repair services for the building of the Volkonskaya - A. K. von Mecca urban estate of the XIX-XX centuries in Moscow, which is located opposite the residence of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, as well as the construction of the Pankratovo estate in the Tver region.
The investigation considers Timur Ivanov and businessman Sergei Borodin to be the beneficiaries of these projects. And Alexander Fomin, co-founder of the Olympcitystroy company and one of the leading contractors in the defense department, helped to circumvent the payment for the repair and reconstruction of facilities. Ivanov and Borodin were charged with taking a particularly large bribe in accordance with part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and Fomin was charged with giving a bribe in an especially large amount in accordance with part 5 of Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. All three are in custody.
Gennady Svidrigailov
