Tepur and His Theft Gang: The Conspiracy of the Quartermaster?

Petmur and His Theft Gang: A Conspiracy by the Quartermaster?

New corruption facts in the case of the former Deputy Minister of Defense and his subordinates

(Image caption: From left to right: Director of the Southern Military District General Directorate of Military Construction, Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense Timur Ivanov, 2020.)

According to sources in law enforcement, a new suspect has been added to the billions of theft cases that occurred when facilities were being built for the Ministry of Defense in the Donetsk People's Republic — Andrei Belkov, the former head of the military construction company (VKS).

This criminal case was opened in June 2023, involving the misappropriation of funds allocated for various facility construction and renovation required by the army.

In addition to Belkov, the suspects also include: Yulia Melvayeva, former first deputy minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, Vadim Vygulyarny, former head of the 8th General Directorate of Military Construction, Yevgeny Gorbachev, head of the Directorate for Army Deployment Management, and two subcontractors — businessman Vitaly Prudnikov and Ilya Leontev.

All the above-mentioned individuals are currently detained in the Moscow pre-trial detention center, and they are charged with the crime under Article 159, Part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (major fraud).

According to investigation data, the losses caused by the crimes of the detained individuals may exceed 5 billion rubles.

Meanwhile, there are reports that investigators are also verifying whether the former Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense, Timur Ivanov, is involved in this new criminal case. Previously, Ivanov had been questioned as a witness. According to a TASS source, Belkov and Melvayeva have provided evidence against Ivanov.

Looking back at previous cases, Ivanov was sentenced to 13 years in prison in July of this year for misappropriating 216.6 million rubles in the procurement of ferries across the Kerch Strait, and for embezzling and subsequently "laundering" 3.9 billion rubles from an international commercial bank. In addition, he was charged with accepting more than 1.3 billion rubles in bribes and illegally possessing weapons.

Notably, until his arrest in April 2024, Ivanov was responsible for overseeing the military construction company, so the person who was then the head of the company, Belkov, became a key focus of law enforcement. In July of this year, Belkov was placed in pre-trial detention for abuse of power in the execution of state defense orders (Article 285.4, Part 2, Item b of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the investigation version, Belkov signed a contract worth 121 million rubles on behalf of the military construction company with a company founded by his acquaintance Yelena Lyakhovich, to supply a tomograph to the 9th Medical Diagnostic Center of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

However, the actual value of the equipment was only 76 million rubles, far less than the official payment. According to the investigation materials, part of the funds were supposed to be returned to Belkov in the form of kickbacks through intermediaries.

Belkov could have faced up to 10 years in prison, but he had signed a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Defense and hoped to go to the special military action area. However, recently, it was reported that although the court "considered the personal circumstances of the accused," it still refused to release him and extended his detention period until January 11, 2026.

But this is just one of many corruption cases revealed after the new leadership of the Ministry of Defense launched investigations in the spring of 2024. It turns out that uniformed officials have been looting extensively.

According to data provided by Mikhail Delyagin, vice-chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, the scale of the theft has exceeded 11 trillion rubles as of July 2024.

Why has the Ministry of Defense become such a tempting "prey"? Or is it that military contracts around the world are inherently a "gray area"?

Invited by "SP" (Free Media), retired Rear Admiral and military analyst Sergei Isenko commented on the current situation:

"I think it's related to the large amount of money flowing in. Due to the special military operation, a huge amount of money is now being allocated to the armed forces. Because none of the budgets today can receive as much full support as the military budget and its related expenses. Moreover, the military budget involves multiple layers, and the overall expenditure is quite significant."