Top Russian general convicted in high profile corruption case

ISTANBUL – A top Russian general was convicted of embezzlement and jailed on July 1, state news media reported, in one of the highest-profile cases from a months-long Kremlin campaign to root out military corruption amid the war in Ukraine.

Timur Ivanov, a general and longtime deputy defence minister who oversaw military construction projects, was detained in April 2024 on charges of taking a “large-scale” bribe – the first in a string of arrests of senior officers.

Ivanov, who was known as a protege of Mr Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defence minister and a close associate of President Vladimir Putin, had pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

The arrest of Ivanov, and other defence officials after him, signalled a turning point in the

Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine

.

Coming at a moment of rising costs and increasing criticism from supporters of the war over the distribution of front-line resources, the moves were seen as an effort by Mr Putin to put the war effort on more economically sustainable footing after more than two years of fighting – and to show that Russia had the discipline and capacity to wage a long conflict.

In delivering the verdict on July 1 at Moscow City Court, Judge Sergei Podoprigorov sentenced Ivanov to 13 years in a penal colony for embezzlement and also imposed a fine of nearly US$1.3 million (S$1.65 million), according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Ivanov will lose his military medals and honours, Tass reported.

Mr Denis Baluyev, an attorney for Ivanov, told Tass that he planned to appeal.

Ivanov still faces bribery charges.

The verdict on July 1 was a rare conviction of a prominent member of the Russian elite with ties to Kremlin officials.

Details of the indictment had been scarce, since the judge closed the trial to the public, saying classified information could be revealed during the proceedings.

Tass had previously reported that Ivanov stood accused of embezzling US$2.7 million from ferry purchases and of receiving more than US$15 million in bribes.

In his final statement to the court, according to Tass, Ivanov said he had “absolutely nothing to do” with the accusations levelled against him.

Russian military bloggers, some of whom had raised the alarm about graft in the military, welcomed the ruling.

“It has been clear since the first days of the war that the army’s coffers were being pilfered in their entirety, and the army was not ready for hostilities,” one blogger, who goes by the name Alex Parker Returns, wrote in a Telegram post on July 1.

The post called the verdict a “half-measure” while hailing it as a rare example of justice.

“Who could have thought two years ago that a deputy defence minister would be sentenced to 13 years in prison?” the post added.

Ivanov, who served as a deputy defence minister starting in 2016, had long been in charge of military construction projects, including huge contracts awarded to rebuild the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, which was devastated by Russian attacks soon after the February 2022 invasion.

He was also responsible for building Patriot Park, a military theme park outside Moscow that sought to cast the experiences of the Russian armed forces in a holy light, and was awarded the Order for Merit to the Fatherland several times.

Before his arrest, Ivanov had attracted the attention of Mr Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation for his and his wife’s conspicuously lavish lifestyle, including yacht rentals on the French Riviera.

He also was placed under US sanctions in 2022 for his role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ivanov’s detention in April 2024 marked the beginning of a month-long purge of high-ranking Defence Ministry officials and generals, charged with bribery and misappropriation of funds.

In May 2024, Mr Putin unexpectedly removed Mr Shoigu, his long-serving defence minister, and replaced him with a member of his economic team.

In addition to Mr Ivanov, a number of others swept up in the campaign have been convicted.

Lieutenant-General Vadim Shamarin, former deputy chief of Russia’s general staff, was sentenced in April to seven years in a maximum-security prison for taking bribes.

A week later, a Russian military court sentenced Major General Ivan Popov, a former top commander in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to five years in a penal colony for fraud and stripped him of his rank. NYTIMES