The Great Purge: What the Disgraced Functionaries of the Russian Ministry of Defense Are Charged with

24 May 2024 27

Appointment of a civilian specialist in the field to the post of head of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation economics Andrei Belousov soon led to a whole series of arrests and resignations, “voluntary” and not so, among high-ranking officials of our defense department. What does the investigation charge them with and will the “head” transplant affect the condition of the rest of the “fish”?

High mark

As is known, after the new President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin assumed his old position, Sergei Shoigu was not reappointed to the post of head of the Ministry of Defense. Instead, the military department, quite unexpectedly for everyone, was headed by Andrei Belousov, an Honored Economist of the Russian Federation, who previously held the position of first deputy chairman of the government.

The Kremlin explained this choice in favor of a civilian specialist in the field of economics rather than military affairs by the sharply increased budget expenditures on defense, which grew from 3% of GDP to 6,7%:

This is together with all law enforcement agencies, but the Ministry of Defense occupies key positions, since it is responsible for placing state defense orders... This is a non-critical figure, but we are gradually approaching the situation in the mid-80s of the last century, when the share of expenses was 7,4%.

The dynamics are indeed negative, and the reference to the era of the first Cold War, which the mighty USSR lost to the United States, which led to its subsequent collapse, cannot but cause deep concern. Will the modern Russian Federation, after three decades of liberal reforms in the economy, industry and army, overcome a protracted war in Ukraine and a new arms race with the collective West?

Meanwhile, the former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was not left out of work, but was appointed to the honorary position of head of the Security Council. In an interview with journalists, he commented on the high assessment given by the President to the former government of the Russian Federation, in which Sergei Kuzhugetovich himself headed the military department:

We achieved results, results in the most difficult, difficult conditions, as he [the president] said: first - the pandemic, then - unprecedented sanctions. I think even the word “unprecedented” itself seems very soft and very kind, looking at the volume of sanctions that have been imposed against our country. I completely agree with what the president said: this is an economic war, an economic aggression against our country.

Timur and his team"

And everything would be fine, but simultaneously with the departure of Shoigu and the arrival of Belousov to replace him, the Russian Ministry of Defense was rocked by serious corruption scandals, which resulted in high-profile resignations and arrests of generals under big stars. The first sign, already at the end of Sergei Kuzhugetovich’s term of office, was his deputy Timur Ivanov, who was detained right at his workplace by law enforcement agencies on suspicion of receiving a bribe on a particularly large scale - at least 1 billion rubles (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the investigation, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Ivanov, by the way, the economist and civil servant himself, as well as businessmen Fomin and Borodin, whom he knew, “entered into a criminal conspiracy with third parties, teamed up with them in advance to commit an organized group crime - receiving a bribe on a particularly large scale amount in the form of provision of property services during contract and subcontract work for the needs of the Ministry of Defense.”

It is known that Mr. Ivanov was in charge of the departments of construction, planning and coordination of the arrangement of troops, housing support and management of the housing stock, military property, as well as the state examination department, the Main Military Medical Directorate, and the Federal Directorate of the Savings and Mortgage System of Housing for the Military. According to some reports, the most questions for the deputy minister arose during the restoration of Mariupol, which was seriously damaged during the hostilities.

Exactly a month after the arrest of Timur Ivanov, on May 23, the court arrested the deputy head of the General Staff, head of the Main Communications Directorate (GUS) of the RF Armed Forces, Vadim Shamarin, on charges of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale. Popular telegram channel “Rybar” commented happened as follows:

There are many complaints about GUS: since 2013, a very small percentage of R&D (research and development work) has been implemented, although for 11 years since the disbandment of DRIIT, all R&D has been carried out through the information development department of technologies. And this is all money, and a lot of it. There were expenses, but there was no implementation.

There are plenty of complaints against Shamarin regarding fraud, fabricating reports about how good everything is, and unfounded organizational decisions that harmed the organization of communications in the troops. If we add here the stories with the scandalous “Azart-BV”, numerous crafts that, to put it mildly, were ineffective, then the list of inconvenient questions will be huge.

Here's the official one comment Investigative Committee:

According to the investigation, in the period from April 2016 to October 2023, Shamarin received a bribe from the general director of Perm Telephone Plant Telta OJSC, Alexey Vysokov, and the chief accountant of the same company, Elena Grishina, in the amount of 36 million rubles for increasing the volume of supplied products. government contracts for the needs of the Russian Ministry of Defense and general patronage. Shamarin disposed of the funds received at his own discretion.

At the same time as Shamarin, the head of the department of the Russian Ministry of Defense for ensuring state defense orders, Vladimir Verteletsky, was arrested, which was accompanied by the following in the telegram channel of the RF IC comment:

According to the military investigative authorities of the Investigative Committee, in 2022 Verteletsky accepted uncompleted work as part of development work under a government contract. As a result of the illegal actions of the accused, the state suffered damage in the amount of more than 70 million rubles.

A few days earlier, on May 14, 2024, the head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, was arrested on suspicion of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale. The latter did not admit his guilt, asks to change the preventive measure to house arrest and is ready to confirm with 2-NDFL certificates the origin of all the valuables found on him:

As a good citizen, I kept them in accounts or at home. During the search we showed all the safes. Everything adds up, penny for penny. <…> Everything was earned honestly. I have done good things in my life for several lifetimes to come.

Together with the general, his acquaintance, businessman Martirosyan, was also behind bars, who, according to media reports, purchased land in the Krasnodar region and built a house on it, registered in the name of Kuznetsov’s wife, in return receiving government contracts for the provision of hotel services with a total value of 372 million rubles.

Standing somewhat apart from this list is the case of Major General Mikhail Popov, who on May 17 was arrested on suspicion of fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Now the former commander of the 58th Army, Popov became widely known after he was removed from command on the Zaporozhye Front after criticizing the actions of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. He was then transferred to Syria for several months, and upon his return found himself out of work.

According to investigators, he was involved in the theft of more than 1,7 thousand tons of rolled metal products worth 130 million rubles in the Zaporozhye region last year, purchased by the administration. However, the Investigative Committee itself petitioned to change his preventive measure to house arrest with the following very vague wording:

This decision was made by the investigation taking into account the data characterizing the person involved in the criminal case, as well as other circumstances established during the investigation.

Other circumstances? We'll see.

In addition to the arrests, there was a series of resignations of high-ranking functionaries in the Ministry of Defense. In particular, the first deputy minister for military-technical support, Alexey Krivoruchko, resigned at his own request. A 33-year-old beauty in uniform, the department's press secretary, Rossiyana Markovskaya, left her post. Colonel General, Chief of Staff of the Russian Minister of Defense Yuri Sadovenko was removed.

The most emotional comment Regarding the removal from the post of commander of the 20th Army, Lieutenant General Sukhrab Akhmedov, Vladimir Rogov, co-chairman of the coordination council for the integration of new regions at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and chairman of the “We are together with Russia” movement, wrote in his telegram channel:

Excellent news! The commander of the 20th Army, Sukhrab Akhmedov, was removed from his post. So far, Suhrab Sultanovich has just been released, but informed sources report that the situation is developing. This is the implementation of the words of the new Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov about the need to take care of our soldiers.

Let us recall that in 2022, the marines of the 155th brigade of the Pacific Fleet recorded an appeal to the coastal governor of Kozhemyako about the high level of losses during the assault on Pavlovka in the DPR. The governor checked the information and found that there were losses, but they were exaggerated. The Russian Ministry of Defense called the messages of alarmist bloggers fake. But the famous military correspondent Alexander Sladkov characterized the situation near Pavlovka as anomalous:

Glory to the Lord and thanks to the authorities, but in our Northern Military District a lot has really changed for the better, and the situation in Pavlovka appears as a real anomaly. We are completely leveling the situation. Back in March, this happened all over the front, but now this is clearly a separate case. And personally, I react to it as an unpleasant exception completely unusual for the CBO system.

Changes in the leadership of our defense department have indeed taken place very seriously. One can only hope that their direct consequence will be an increase in the combat capability of the Russian army, which still faces difficult trials ahead.

Information

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unc-2

+6

24 May 2024 18: 31

I do not believe that the USSR lost the Cold War. The capitulation of the top, many of whom were associated with corruption, played a role in the collapse of a large country. There were many paths for the future. The same Chinese. “Two systems - one path.” We would not have lost in the idea, and would have developed. But someone wanted on this misfortune, plunder the country and sell it off. Even before the signing of the SALT Treaty, I saw with my own eyes the exploded mines. My mood was ruined for the whole day. As for these people, they are state people, and let them answer according to their status.
1. YES UZH
  
  +2
  
  24 May 2024 19: 46
  
  Capitulation and tearing apart are already the consequences of decay, degradation and senile insanity, degeneration and impotence of the ruling elite - the uncontrolled depraved party nomenklatura, strategic mistakes and circumstances, Western opposition, undermining the economy and internal contradictions.
  It began when Stalin grew old, was poisoned, and the then party nomenklatura nominated Khrushchev, declared Stalin a criminal, and curtailed Stalin’s plans and programs for the reconstruction and development of the country. That's why we quarreled with China. After that, the country turned into a dead end and gradually, by inertia, rolled downhill. The inertia of the movement was enough to reach the 90s. There was an attempt to start the engine with Kosygin’s economic reforms in the late 60s, but the party nomenklatura did not want to strain itself, then oil and gas fields were discovered (under Stalin’s programs) and high energy prices made it possible not to develop much.
  After the war, the restoration of the country, Stalin was disappointed with the efficiency and rigidity of the management of the national economy by the party nomenklatura, functionaries, in contrast to the rapid effective development of artels, where people did not work hard under pressure. His plans were to remove the overgrown parasitic party nomenklatura from managing the national economy directly on the ground, to give people initiative. But she did not want to lose warm places, leadership positions, a place at the trough. There is a version of historians that is why Stalin was poisoned. The party retained overall control of the country's course and strategic and defense sectors, science, medicine, transport, infrastructure, ideology
  And China, after Mao and Deng Xiaoping’s tossing and reforms, returned practically to Stalin’s projects with its own specifics + foreign investment at first, when the West hoped to pit China against the USSR and pit us against each other.
  “Two systems - one country” is for the gradual annexation of the former colonies of Hong Kong and Macau, where the capitalist economy is the plan of Deng Xiaoping.
  1. Nikolay Volkov
    
    +3
    
    25 May 2024 06: 37
    
    You will, of course, excuse me, but the USSR launched the first Sputnik into space 12 years after the Victory. and after 16 the first person.
    
    and this was not done by artels, but by restored state-owned plants and factories, where, in your opinion, they worked under pressure.
    
    Artels are good at sewing pants and growing onions, but only large organizations can solve global programs.
    
    and Stalin understood this very well. and you have everything in one pile.
    
    and yes, nuclear weapons in the USSR (thanks to which Russia actually exists) were also not developed by artels...
    
    the fact that Stalin was poisoned is just a theory, not actually proven by anything... Joseph Vissarionovich died at almost 75 years old... well, of course, at that age a person who suffered exile and a huge load during the Second World War could not die, only as a result of poisoning...although the story of the Leader’s death is very murky, of course.
  2. Vladimir1155
    
    -1
    
    25 May 2024 08: 06
    
    I generally agree, but the deep cause of the death of the USSR was cave atheism and, as a consequence, the loss of conscience among the majority of the people... the purges carried out by the great Stalin were aimed at removing unscrupulous embezzlers = traitors = corrupt officials from high positions, V I Lenin after the assassination attempt Mikhelson plant, based on the actions of his best friend Sverdlov and in connection with the capture of Sverdlov’s mistress and part-time observer of the assassination attempt, he realized that it was dangerous to have unscrupulous atheists as assistants, unscrupulous atheists are traitors = embezzlers - corrupt officials, therefore Lenin, having poisoned the traitor Sverdlov, appointed honest ones instead of Sverdlov , that is, Stalin and Kalinin. The Great I B Stalin was smart and knew how to learn from Lenin’s mistakes, so he immediately began to select a team of honest, conscientious (that is, having religious morals) comrades-in-arms (Kir Molotov Voroshilov Mekhlis, etc.) and get rid of traitors, from traitors to both the country and the leader, every corrupt official is a traitor from betraying his responsibilities to the state and the leader of the country, he is corrupt by definition and betrayal of the Motherland is only a matter of time and situation, examples of this are Tukhachevsky and Gorbachev.... a traitor sooner or later wants to overthrow (poison, kill) the leader and take his place, for any shameless atheist, traitor, corrupt official, selfish and has no conscience, God’s commandments “thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill” are an empty phrase for him, ....
    therefore, Vyshinsky’s statements at the 1937 trials about the newly-minted Judases are not a metaphor, as many people think, poisoned by Khrushchev’s propaganda; in the actions of Tukhachevsky (Yakir Uborevich and others) one could see not only an attempt to put together a juntua to overthrow the great leader, but also clearly sabotage actions in the massive purchase of outdated equipment, construction unnecessary battleships, Tukhachevsky, like Judas Iscariot, sold himself for 30 pieces of silver, because if a person is corrupt and silver-loving, then he is for sale.....
    in the Northern Military District, many military commanders, honest officers, Prigozhin spoke about the sabotage of the rear, due to the rear not being properly organized, they had to temporarily leave Sumy, Chernigov, Kharkov region, there were also unjustified losses due to the disruption of the supply of weapons and the sending of supplies to convoys that were not properly protected through enemy territory, , ...so embezzler = corrupt official = saboteur = traitor to the Motherland = conspirator against the leader these are synonyms, because this is all the inner essence of a shameless cave atheist
    
    pay attention to Tukhachevsky’s speech in 1935, he wants to save money and money.... love of silver is what characterizes him
    1. VladimirNET
      
      +1
      
      25 May 2024 20: 09
      
      Quote: vladimir1155
      The cause of the death of the USSR was cave atheism and, as a consequence, the loss of conscience among the majority of the people
      
      Ideology, in itself, is not the reason for the collapse of the USSR. It was destroyed by SPECIFIC geeks who wanted power and money. IT IS THEY who are to blame for the collapse of the USSR, and not the abstract “people”.
      
      For reference, in the war of 1941-45 there was THIS SAME ideology, but we won! Everyone probably now regrets that the traitor Gorbachev led the country, it was he who replaced people in the power structure with those “pleasing to him,” although the scumbag Yeltsin came to power without him.
      
      As for religion, it is VERY GOOD that it is separated from school and VO, there is nothing for it to do there. In your free time, do whatever you want, you probably don’t need to prohibit it.
      1. Vladimir1155
        
        0
        
        25 May 2024 20: 44
        
        I partially agree that the government bears more responsibility than the common people. however, you need to keep in mind that the ideology of 1918, 1941 and 1945, and 1991 are all 4 different ideologies, although in appearance they are the same,
        1... 1918 cave atheism and expropriation of everything, famine and extrajudicial executions of people (ideologists = Lenin Sverdlov Trotsky Yaroslavl (Gubelman)
        2 1935-1941 the end of lawlessness, the prohibition of persecution based on religious beliefs, the development of industrialization and the belief that industrialization and electrification will make people happy, faith in Stalin (ideologists = Stalin, Zhdanov, Mekhlis)
        3 1941-1953, Stalin placed on religious norms, support of the church as the basis of morality, along with industry and science in material production
        4 1954 betrayal of Judas Khrushchev, legalization of corruption, collapse of ideology, persecution of the church
        5 1964-1991 insipid, spineless, coreless ideology of the cowardly and passive Suslov, about nothing..... with periodic howling about increasing the welfare of the people, that is, the worship of the golden calf, which led to theft and the eventual collapse of the country, if a person has no dreams , then he is not interested in living, ... nomenklatura corrupt officials first poisoned Suslov with “an American medicine secret from him,” and then Brezhnev with the initial goal of ruining the country and stealing everything they could, to the approving cries of the people who thought that he would get a piece ....the love of silver is such, “the root of all evil”, among the corrupt Brezhnev numbers, no one understood ideology, since Stalin Zhdanov and Mehlis were professionals in journalism, and they appointed Suslov, who also understood nothing about ideology
2. Pro100
  
  +6
  
  24 May 2024 19: 47
  
  In the Cold War, the USSR did not lose, or rather, it surrendered, unlike China. These are still different things, although the result is the same. Today we are trying to return something, but the train, unfortunately, has left.
  1. VladimirNET
    
    +1
    
    25 May 2024 20: 24
    
    Quote: Pro100
    Today we are trying to return something,
    but the train, unfortunately, left.
    
    You are wrong: like any train, it can return back, just during the absence of our train there, a lot has changed, but that’s all.
    Are the rails destroyed? And who told you that it is impossible to build new ones, as well as to pave a NEW, different path - which will turn out to be EVEN better than the previous one.
The comment was deleted.
Sergei Fonov

+1

24 May 2024 19: 47

The arrest of General Ivan Popov, is it a mistake, or an order from the State Intelligence Service of Ukraine? It is necessary to carefully study the issue and draw conclusions that must be immediately implemented. But you can solve it the same way as with Popov, first arrest and then investigate.
1. Flight
  
  +2
  
  25 May 2024 12: 45
  
  Unfortunately, now it is almost impossible to find an official living on one salary. It’s not for nothing that they closed information about their income under the heading - Russian Federation.
2. VladimirNET
  
  0
  
  26 May 2024 02: 45
  
  Quote: Sergei Fonov
  The arrest of General Ivan Popov, is it a mistake or an order?
  
  Or maybe he just found himself in the wrong time and place, and he has to answer for the corruption of other people, whose machinations he did not know about.
  PS. If he signed the papers, and there it was written “which is not there”,
  then he is ALREADY responsible, whether he knew about it or not - it doesn’t matter. But if he didn’t take a bribe for it, then they can release him...
vlad127490

+3

24 May 2024 22: 00

Those who committed participated in the state. the coup and liquidation of the Soviet Union are still in power and it would be naive to expect something good from them for the people. Theft is determined by the system of power itself. What is happening now is a forced PR campaign to maintain the power seized in 1991.
1. VladimirNET
  
  +1
  
  26 May 2024 02: 54
  
  Quote: vlad127490
  Those who committed participated in the state. coup and liquidation of the Soviet Union are still in power
  
  You are right, but I completely disagree:
  1. Chubais is gone (he got away).
  2. There is a law on foreign agents.
  3. Gradually - people are changed (even Shoigu was replaced).
  4. Governors (not touched) - Putin himself filmed.
  5. For corruption (theft) - already from the RF Ministry of Defense.
  
  By the way, Gorbachev was able to destroy the USSR only because he REPLACED many decent people with “his own”. In the same way, I think it is possible to replace any others in power.
  PS. Yes, it is VERY slow, but without revolutions, after each of which the incomes of citizens fall, as does the economy.
Vasya_33

+2

24 May 2024 22: 47

The Moscow petty-bourgeois court arrested the brother of the head of Ingushetia, Magomed-Bashir Kalimatov, media reports. A corresponding card has appeared on the authority’s website. As noted, he is suspected of stealing about ₽2 billion

write TG channels.
1. Flight
  
  +3
  
  25 May 2024 12: 42
  
  You're already starting to get used to the stinking billions. You can no longer pay attention to the stolen millions.
Flight

0

25 May 2024 03: 15

Another campaign to pull oneself out of the swamp by the hair, by discrediting the army.
Was it possible to fire all these “unfortunates” and then arrest them, as they did with Popov? It’s possible, but it’s not advisable for hanging noodles - they spent five years preparing for Ivanov’s beautiful finale, and what has changed? Probably an opportunity to convince the electorate that not everyone there is like that. This is why they discredit the army, saying that honest people are only in the FSB and only under the leadership of the head. And the failure of 22 years is not connected with the strategist, but because of these “hooligans”.
Nick. WITH

+3

25 May 2024 06: 36

The title is a big cleanup. But if it’s big, then it must be really big, otherwise...
1. prior
  
  +1
  
  25 May 2024 09: 36
  
  and so ...
  
  And so, the “cleaning” or “big cleaning” began again in the wrong place.
  It was necessary to start with the Kremlin “stables”, but they took up the Frunzenskaya embankment.
  MO is just a small pile of accumulated “dirty laundry”.
  And how much there is in the State Duma, the Federation Council, and other government places!
k7k8

+1

25 May 2024 08: 12

The Great Purge: What the Disgraced Functionaries of the Russian Ministry of Defense Are Charged with

Mr. Marzhetsky, don’t you know that the disgrace of the authorities is caused by the opposition and disagreement of the disgraced figure with the actions of the current government? Disagreement with the direction of cash flows past one’s own pockets does not lead to disgrace, but to criminal prosecution, as in this case. You, calling the thieves disgraced leaders, put the crown of thorns of martyrs on their heads and make them heroes. You should be more careful with terminology. Call a spade a spade. Comrade What did Zheglov say?
prior

+6

25 May 2024 08: 16

The appointment ...... Andrei Belousov ..... led to a whole series of arrests and resignations

So this is Belousov to blamethat so many degenerals turned out to be thieves?!
And I, naive, believed that the Minister of Defense and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief were responsible for this, to whom they actually obeyed and who did not bother to ask where they got “everything acquired through back-breaking labor.” And there is also the Accounts Chamber. She also has nothing to do with it, where did the budget money go?
Train

+6

25 May 2024 08: 58

And Kozhukhetych is clean, that’s how you should work, handsome!
1. Nick. WITH
  
  0
  
  25 May 2024 12: 58
  
  This question is not simple. Someone told dad that Timur stole the money.
2. E NOT
  
  +5
  
  25 May 2024 13: 05
  
  In general, the scheme is great. Re-election of the President with subsequent purges in the Moscow Region (the problem is ripe). In order not to expose the minister, he is sent for a promotion - and the bribes are smooth. With such a sidekick, it’s not just that you won’t drown in water or burn in fire, but in general, life is a raspberry.
  1. VladimirNET
    
    +1
    
    26 May 2024 03: 05
    
    Quote from E-NOT
    and in general life is a raspberry.
    
    Except for those who got caught (or didn’t share on time),
    for them it is no longer a berry. )))
Lisa Kerner

+2

26 May 2024 12: 02

...hope dies last!
But until Shoigu, who was behind all this disgusting, is arrested, there will be no final clarity and purity!
Sergei Fonov

+2

28 May 2024 12: 43

The price of scrap metal at that time in the Zaporozhye region was 8 rubles per kilo, that is, as they write, theoretically it was possible to earn about 13 million rubles; he is accused of stealing 1700 tons. Where did the amount of 130 million come from? Maybe the zeros were added by mistake?
Dingo

0

1 June 2024 18: 15

recorded an appeal to the coastal governor Kozhemyako about the high level of losses during the assault on Pavlovka in the DPR. The governor checked the information and found that there were losses, but they were exaggerated. The Russian Ministry of Defense called messages from alarmist bloggers fake

Well, everything is clear with the Moscow Region - Prigozhin simply, out of despair, laid out a conflict with the “reindeer herder” and this, what’s his name, “chief” of headquarters, with whom he fled from Rostov together ahead of his squeal...
So the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing? Did the “plywood” one have a stroke?

A 33-year-old beauty in uniform, the department's press secretary, Rossiyana Markovskaya, left her post.

And it's all? There is a whole harem of “generals” in skirts “clattering their hooves” on Frunzenskaya... Where is Tanka Shevtsova, M. Kitaeva - at 27 years old a “general” and a “challenge prize” of all the “deputies” in the Moscow Region.... Everyone goes through them financial flows, all the “transactions” through these “girls” from the “Sewing “troops”... But - silence...