This Tuesday, the Russian Intelligence Service announced the arrest of Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Main Staff Directorate, on suspicion of corruption.
According to authorities, the person responsible is suspected of receiving a “particularly large bribe”. The charges relate to incidents that allegedly took place during the general’s tenure as head of the 8th Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, which includes the service for the protection of state secrets of the Ministry of Defense, performed from 2021 to 2021. 2023.
Russian investigators allege that Kuznetsov “received bribes from representatives of business structures to carry out certain actions on his behalf.”
The General’s house was raided, where they seized more than a million rubles, foreign currency, gold coins, collectible watches and other luxury items.
A police source told state news agency TASS that Kuznetsov was arrested “following the investigation of the second defendant in the case who testified against the general”. Kuznetsov faces up to 15 years in prison on the charges.
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and government agencies first reported Kuznetsov’s arrest on Monday night. Online court records consulted by Meduza newspaper indicate that a Moscow military court held an arrest hearing on Monday against a man given the full name of Kuznetsov, but did not specify what coercive measures he was subject to.
Kuznetsov’s arrest marks the second time in the past two weeks that a senior Defense Ministry official has been arrested on corruption charges. In late April, Russian authorities arrested Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov for accepting more than a billion rubles in bribes.
It is worth recalling that this Sunday, Vladimir Putin removed Sergei Shoigu from the post of Russian Defense Minister and appointed him Secretary of the Russian Security Council. Shoigu led the Ministry of Defense for 12 years from November 2012 to May 2024. He was replaced by Andrei Belousov, a longtime presidential adviser who has served as deputy prime minister since 2020.
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