Army General, former Deputy Defense Minister arrested in corruption case

Former Deputy Minister of Defense, Russian Army General Dmitry Bulgakov, was arrested in a corruption case, the FSB said July 26. At the request of the investigation, Bulgakov was sent to the Butyrka pretrial detention center in Moscow.

Bulgakov served as Deputy Minister of Defense for 14 years and was removed from the post three days after President Putin announced partial mobilization in 2022.

The case is being investigated jointly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee.

Allegedly, the FSB has been following General Bulgakov's work since 2022. He was repeatedly summoned as a witness in a number of corruption cases in the Russian Defence Ministry.

The general was dismissed from the post of Deputy Minister of Defense on September 24, 2022 "due to a transfer to another job." When serving at the ministry, Bulgakov was responsible for the logistics of the troops. He then took office as Inspector General of the Office of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

It is alleged that General Bulgakov arranged a scheme to purchase fuel and lubricants from a single supplier through closed procedures. The purchasing price was increased twice. The amount of payments could thus be overstated by 60 billion rubles.

In addition, after Bulgakov's arrest, the Military Informant Telegram channel wrote:

"One can ask him now where one and a half million sets of military uniforms disappeared from warehouses in the fall of 2022."

Lieutenant General Andrei Gurulev, a member of the State Duma Defense Committee, then reported that the uniforms for mobilized personnel simply vanished from personnel reception stations.

A RIA Novosti source later said that Bulgakov had created a system for supplying troops with low-quality food at inflated prices already, including in the conditions of the special military operation. He allegedly received kickbacks from the Gryazinsky Food Plant in the Lipetsk Region.

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a case against the management of the plant.

• General Dmitry Bulgakov is 69 years old. He served in the rear of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. He became Deputy Minister of Defense in 2008. He was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, the Order of Military Merit, the Order of Honor, and the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
• Bulgakov received the title of Hero of Russia in 2016. General Bulgakov and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov were awarded the title of Hero of Russia for organizing supplies for the Russian Khmeimim airbase in Syria.