'Shoigu's man' Timur Ivanov arrested for what is believed to be large bribery case

Timur Ivanov, Russian Deputy Defence Minister, was arrested on April 23 in the case of bribery. He will remain in custody before June 2024.

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A Moscow court sent Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov to a pre-trial detention centre. He was arrested for two months, until June 23. Ivanov was charged under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code (receiving a bribe on an especially large scale).

According to investigators, Ivanov entered into a "criminal conspiracy with third parties to commit a crime and received a large bribe in the form of property services provided during contracting and subcontracting works for the needs of the Defence Ministry.”

Security forces are conducting dozens of searches in several Russian regions in relation to the case of Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov, RBC reports. It was ai that FSB officers were working in the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories of Southern Russia.

Official version

Timur Ivanov was detained on Tuesday at 17:00 in his office. The materials of Ivanov's criminal case are related to his official duties. He is suspected of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code). He faces up to 15 years in prison under this article.

Timur Ivanov did not plead guilty at court.

The materials of the case against Ivanov are based on the testimony of witnesses and the results of operational activities. The official has been under criminal intelligence analysis for a long time, a source told TASS. Operational support of the criminal case is carried out by the military counterintelligence of the FSB.

Rumours and insinuations

Ivanov is "a man of Shoigu's.” He "had problems” and "there were questions to him”. His detention may be related to Shoigu's possible departure from the ministry, Forbes said with reference to a source at the Defence Ministry. There is no official confirmation to such reports.

Deputy Defense Minister Ivanov is allegedly suspected of treason, whereas his bribery case appears to be just art of the charges that could be exposed to the public, sources of "Important Stories" said.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that one should believe official information only.

"There are a lot of different rumours around this whole thing, one needs to rely on official information, all these discussions are speculations around this case," Peskov said.

Three more people were detained in this case, previously all of them were employees of the Defence Ministry or government agencies.

Investigative measures are being carried out at Ivanov's dacha in Dagestan.

Several people who were considered to be involved in the transfer of money through a "complex chain of intermediaries,” were also arrested, Izvestia said.

President Vladimir Putin knew in advance about Ivanov's detention, Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was also informed about Ivanov's arrest. It is worthy of note that on the day of his arrest, Timur Ivanov was present at the meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defence led by Sergei Shoigu.

Background

• Ivanov was born in Moscow in 1975, he graduated from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University. In 1997-2012, Ivanov worked in the fuel and energy industry, including in the department of construction of nuclear projects of the Ministry of Atomic Energy. He served as vice-president of Atomstroyexport, and headed the Federal State Budgetary Institution Russian Energy Agency of the Ministry of Energy.
• In 2008-2012, he was an adviser to the Russian Minister of Energy, when this position was held by Sergei Shmatko. In 2012, he became deputy chairman of the government of the Moscow region Andrei Sharov, the region was then headed by Sergei Shoigu. He started working at the Defence Ministry in 2013 when he chaired Oboronstroy and the Main Directorate for the Arrangement of Troops. In 2016, by presidential decree, he became Deputy Minister of Defence. Ivanov then "managed to carry out several assignments of special importance, which were reported to Vladimir Putin,” Kommersant said with reference to its source.
• When serving as Deputy Defence Minister, Timur Ivanov was involved in organising property management, planning the purchase of goods (performance of work, provision of services) as part of state defence orders. Among other things, he also supervised the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome.
• Based on the results of the first year of work in the Defence Ministry, Timur Ivanov's family turned out to be the wealthiest among employees of the defence department. In 2016, together with his wife, he earned 69.7 million rubles, as follows from the declaration. His wife Svetlana earned as much as 55.5 million rubles of the amount, while Timur Ivanov's income amounted to 14.2 million rubles.
• In 2019, Forbes included him in the ranking of Russia's wealthiest security officials. His family's income at the end of 2018 amounted to 136.7 million rubles, while the deputy minister himself declared an income of 13.6 million rubles. Information about the income of deputy defence ministers for 2020 and later could not be disclosed due to the law on state protection of judges, law enforcement officials and regulatory authorities.
• Ivanov was awarded the title of Hero of the LPR (2022), he was awarded the Order For Service to the Fatherland, medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland; he also has the title of the Honoured Builder of Russia. In 2022, after the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Timur Ivanov fell under US and EU sanctions.