The Kremlin’s sword rarely falls on a very high-ranking military official in office. Spectacular, the arrest of the Russian Deputy Minister of Defense, Timur Ivanov, on Tuesday April 23, cast a chill behind the high walls of the ministry, Frunzenskaya Embankment, in Moscow. It comes in a context of the stalling of the Russian offensive in Ukraine and a possible ministerial reshuffle expected from May 7, the date of the inauguration of Vladimir Putin for his fifth term. This unprecedented legal action since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years and two months ago could be an expression of the head of state’s growing frustration with his defense minister, Sergei. Choïgou, in office since 2012.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Vladimir Putin and the defense minister had been informed of Ivanov’s detention. Sergei Shoigu gave the order to dismiss Timur Ivanov on Thursday April 25 in the morning.
Presented in military uniform before the judge on Wednesday April 24, the vice-minister, aged 48 and known for his lavish and ostentatious lifestyle, was placed in pre-trial detention at least until June 23 in the prison of Lefortovo, known to be controlled by state security (FSB). Very close to Mr. Shoigu, Timur Ivanov is accused of having participated in a “criminal association with third parties” to receive bribes “very important” when executing contracts and subcontracting works for the needs of the Ministry of Defense.
Its function consisted precisely in supervising the construction and maintenance activity of the ministry’s property and equipment. A position involving enormous sums of money, since defense has become the country’s main budgetary item. In this capacity, the vice-minister was responsible for pharaonic projects, such as the reconstruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, devastated in 2022 by Russian bombings. Previously, he oversaw the construction of the Russian Armed Forces Cathedral near Moscow, the Vostochny Cosmodrome, and the Defense Ministry’s medical centers for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
Shoigu’s right-hand man
Targeted by several high-profile investigations carried out by independent investigative journalists and by allies of the assassinated opponent Alexeï Navalny, Timur Ivanov began to look like a lame duck in the ministry, as the images revealing his lifestyle contrasted with his official income. , and especially with the quagmire in which Russian soldiers find themselves in Ukraine. His neat appearance, his thin-rimmed glasses and his friendly expression did not fit well with the image of an official, who usually displays a stern face and crude manners in public.
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