Not corruption, but treason, claims the media about the case at the Russian Ministry of Defense

“Bribery – that’s just for the audience. For now, they do not want to publicly mention treason, after all it is a big scandal. After all, it is the Deputy Minister of Defense,” Važnje istorii quotes one of its sources.

The second mentioned source claims that the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, gave (the case) the green light after he was convinced that it was indeed treason. “No one would arrest him for corruption. Everyone there (in the Kremlin) knew about it a long time ago,” he declared.

Shoigu’s deputy accuses him of corruption, he faces up to 15 years in prison

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According to the sources of the Važnyje istorii portal, the case is being investigated by the FSB Military Counterintelligence Department.

“Now they are deciding what to do with him. Either they will convict him of corruption and “arrive” him behind bars, or they will reclassify the charges,” said one of the two mentioned security community sources.

Putin was informed of Ivanov’s arrest, as was his minister Sergei Shoigu, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Russian journalists.

When asked about the alleged treason, he then added that “we need to focus on official information, especially since the investigation is ongoing.”

According to Ivanov’s unnamed lawyer quoted by the RIA Novosti agency, his client only heard accusations of corruption, and the rumors about treason are not based on truth.

Ivanov has been a deputy at the Russian Ministry of Defense since 2016 and is Shoigu’s man, having already worked together at Moscow City Hall when Shoigu ran it.

In defense, Ivanov was in charge of the construction and all reconstruction of the Ministry’s buildings, he also managed the military mortgage.

He managed all the giant construction projects of the resort, including work on the Vostochny Cosmodrome. In addition, he was responsible for the housing needs and medical care of the employees of the Russian Armed Forces.

The charge of corruption of “particularly large scale” assumes that the bribe he received should have amounted to at least one million rubles.

According to earlier findings of associates of the investigative team of the deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Ivanov and his family have extensive assets.

Ivanov’s ex-wife Svetlana Maniovičová (they divorced in the summer of 2022) was still renting an apartment in Paris in April 2023. At that time, the team organized a protest in front of Navalny’s house.

However, Ivanova’s alleged second partner, Marija Kitayeva, a former employee of the Russian Ministry of Defense, also reportedly regularly traveled to Europe after the start of Russia’s armed aggression in Ukraine.

Ivanov is on the US and EU sanctions list, the Meduza portal pointed out.

Shoigu’s deputy was detained in Russia

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