Timur Ivanov is accused of having accepted “particularly large bribes” (equivalent to one million rubles) in the framework of construction and renovation projects of the Ministry of Defense. Ivanov has denied these accusations. He is currently detained at the Lefortovo remand center in Moscow. He will remain locked there at least until the conclusions of the preliminary investigation. He faces up to 15 years in prison. Although he was removed from office, he became the highest-ranking Kremlin official to face criminal charges. He is a loyal advisor to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. He was also his vice-governor of the Moscow region in 2012.
But according to sources close to the FSB, independent information site iStories and reported by Meduza, he would in fact be implicated in a treason case. “Accusations of corruption are aimed at the public. They don’t want to talk about betrayal publicly at the moment – it’s a big scandal. He is the Deputy Minister of Defense, after all”, explains a Source. Another Source states that Vladimir Putin “gave the order (to arrest Ivanov) after being convinced that it was specifically a case of treason” and adds that the deputy minister would never have been arrested for corruption.
Russia announces child exchange with Ukraine
Given his close ties with Sergei Shoigu, some Russian observers believe that this is a Kremlin strategy to “purge” the Defense Minister’s entourage, perhaps with the aim of removing him. “If he can’t handle this, he’ll be the next to go down. This individual is 100% his servant”, we can read on a Telegram channel. Sergei Shoigu is in fact strongly criticized for his management of the war in Ukraine. He had notably suffered numerous criticisms from the boss of the Wagner militia, Yevgueni Prigojine, who died in a plane crash.
