IANS | 24 Apr, 2024
In the midst of Russia's war against Ukraine, a court in Moscow has
remanded Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov in custody on suspicion of
corruption.
Ivanov, 48, must initially remain in custody until
June 23, the press service of the court in the Basmanny district of
Moscow announced on Wednesday. He has denied the charges.
The high-ranking official is accused of accepting bribes on a particularly large scale.
Ivanov
was primarily responsible for construction projects - including in the
occupied south-eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which Russia's army
completely destroyed during its seize of the port city in the first
months of the war in 2022.
Another suspect in the case has also
been remanded in custody, the court said. This is said to be a
businessman who is a friend of Ivanov's.
The team of Kremlin
opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February, had already
made allegations of corruption against Ivanov at the end of 2022, but
there was no official reaction at the time.
In an investigation,
Navalny's group accused Ivanov of having financed the construction of
properties in several Russian regions via defence ministry contractors.
Ivanov
is considered a confidant of Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
He has been one of the minister's 12 deputies since 2016.
In 2012,
he was head of the government of the Moscow region, where Shoigu was
governor at the time. Shoigu later took Ivanov with him when Shoigu was
transferred to the Ministry of Defence.
The Kremlin said after the arrest that Shoigu had been informed of the move in advance.