Russian security officials detained a top general early Tuesday, expanding their investigation into the country’s massive defense ministry as President Vladimir V. Putin carries out a broader reshuffle of his government. of cleaning.
The Investigative Committee of Russia’s federal law enforcement agencies said Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, who heads the ministry’s personnel department, was detained on suspicion of “large-scale” bribery. said in a statement on Tuesday.
His arrest follows a surprise move by Mr Putin deleted His longtime defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu resign from his post and replace him and a member of his economic team.
Prosecutors said General Kuznetsov accepted bribes from “commercial interests” between 2021 and 2023 while working at the General Staff of the Armed Forces to protect state secrets. Prosecutors claim security agents found the equivalent of $1 million in cash and luxury goods when they searched General Kuznetsov’s home.
General Kuznetsov is a career military officer who served in the General Staff for 13 years before taking up a position in the Ministry of Defense in 2023.
General Kuznetsov is the second senior Russian defense official to be detained in the past month. Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained in April and charged with the same crime, namely “massive” bribery.
Ivanov is known for his wife’s lavish lifestyle and is widely seen as a protégé of Mr Shoigu. Putin this week made a broader reshuffle of top security positions, signaling his focus on improving the management of Russia’s military resources to defeat Ukraine in a war of attrition. Concerns about resource management may partly explain why governments try to take action against corruption.
The Russian Defense Ministry has long been widely seen as a hotbed of corruption. Some analysts say the systematic theft of state defense contracts was one of the disastrous reasons for the Russian Army’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2022, When nominally modern divisions are sent to the battlefield Equipment is old and inadequate.
In Russia, ultranationalist supporters of the Ukraine war blame heavy military losses and meager territorial gains on the greed and apathy of top generals.
Shoigu’s main rival, the ultranationalist warlord Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, exploited popular dissatisfaction with the high command to launch a brief rebellion within 120 miles of Moscow last year. shaken Putin’s power. (Mr. Prigozhin eventually relented and died in a plane crash a few months later).
Prominent ultranationalist commentators expressed quiet joy at the arrests of Generals Ivanov and Kuznetsov and Shoigu’s demotion, suggesting that corruption at the top of the military remains a concern for war supporters, as well as a political Threatens Mr. Putin.
Mikhail Zvinchuk, one of Russia’s most popular military bloggers, wrote on Monday that he hoped Shoigu’s demotion would lead to “a comprehensive audit and reform of all financial models of the Ministry of Defense.”
Kirill Fedorov, another pro-war military blogger with 500,000 subscribers on the messaging app Telegram, on Tuesday named a video of General Kuznetsov’s arrest “Is it 1937 again?”, referring to Joseph Stalin’s brutal purges of generals and generals. other members of the Soviet elite.
