Russian authorities detained Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov on corruption charges. The long-time politician was supposed to accept bribes worth at least one million rubles (about 250 thousand crowns). Ivanov’s arrest drew attention in particular because of his long-standing closeness to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
At the same time, he is the highest-ranking official imprisoned by the authorities since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If convicted, the politician faces up to 15 years in prison.
“He Crossed Someone’s Path”
Ivanov has held the position of Deputy Minister of Defense since 2016. Prior to that, for three years he headed the military construction company Oboronstroj, which was linked to the Ministry of Defense. But he worked with Shoigu even earlier, when he was the deputy head of the regional government of the Moscow Region. The current Minister of Defense was the governor at that time.
As Deputy Minister of Defense, Ivanov oversaw the construction, reconstruction and repair of Ministry buildings. He was also responsible for the accommodation and medical security of the Russian Armed Forces.
The latest huge contracts awarded for the reconstruction of the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which was devastated by Russian attacks shortly after the invasion in February 2022, also fell under his supervision.
Profile of Sergei Shoigu
He has belonged to the innermost circle of the “president’s men” for over twenty years. But Boris Yeltsin already took him to the highest political levels.
The circumstances surrounding the detention of a deputy minister with such high-level contacts are not yet clear. However, the New York Times points out that in the past it was a rule that the prosecution of such a person was related to disagreements at higher levels.
“He’s nothing special when it comes to side businesses and unexplained wealth. To meet such an end of your career, you had to cross someone’s path,” Dara Massicot, an expert on the Russian military from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, commented on the arrest for the American newspaper.
The BBC noted that since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such highly publicized cases are rare.
On the EU and US sanctions list
In 2019, Ivanov appeared in Forbes magazine’s list of the richest security officials. At the same time, photos and reports about the lavish lifestyle of Ivanov and his wife, which is far from reaching the level of a state salary, have been circulating on social networks for years.
The assets of the Ivanovs were also targeted in 2022 by the investigation of the Endowment Fund against Corruption, an organization founded by the deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny. According to him, the couple bought, for example, a luxury Rolls-Royce car, a ring worth 104 thousand dollars or expensive fashion clothes. They also bought a luxury holiday home or rented a cottage on the French Riviera.
After the invasion began, both the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on the politician for his activities. He is subject to a travel ban and asset freeze by the EU, which describes him as “tenth in the overall hierarchy of Russian military leadership”.
According to a Forbes magazine source, Ivanov paid for “Shoigu’s men”. Recently, however, problems and questions have accumulated that have made it impossible for him to continue in office.
According to the magazine, the detention of the deputy could also be related to the fact that the minister himself could soon leave the department. Ivanov’s removal can thus also be understood as an effort to “clean up” Shoigu’s surroundings in advance, claims the publication’s source.
