A senior Russian military commander detained in a fraud case as investigation widens

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This article was published 02/09/2024 (463 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A senior Russian military commander was detained in a fraud case Monday, the latest high-profile arrest in what appears to be a sweeping investigation into abuse of office in Russia’s military leadership.

Maj. Gen. Valery Mumindzhanov, deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District, was detained on suspicion of receiving a bribe of more than 20 million rubles ($223,000), Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

He is the ninth top military figure to be arrested on charges of fraud, bribery or abuse of office in recent months, including Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, who was arrested for bribery in April and later dismissed from his position. The arrests began shortly before President Vladimir Putin replaced Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with an economist, Andrei Belousov.

Analysts suggest the arrests are a sign that Shoigu’s associates are being removed from power and that the most egregious corruption in the Defense Ministry will no longer be tolerated.

Mumindzhanov received the bribe from suppliers who wanted to secure a contract with Russia’s Ministry of Defense for the supply of military uniforms, including for soldiers fighting in Ukraine, the Investigative Committee said. It added that, at the time the bribe was paid, Mumindzhanov was the head of a department which sourced supplies and resources for the Defense Ministry and that the contract for uniforms was worth 1.5 billion roubles ($16.75 million.)

Investigators are also assessing how Mumindzhanov and his family acquired more than 120 million roubles ($1.3 million) of property in the Moscow and Voronezh regions and whether it was legal, the committee said.

Last week, former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov was ordered held on fraud charges. Popov is accused of forcing companies that had contracts with a military park in Moscow to do work on his own properties for free. Investigators are also assessing whether Popov’s property portfolio — worth $5.5 million — was acquired legally.

Graft in the Defense Ministry “is so rife” that the choice of who is arrested will be informed by “internal turf wars,” Richard Connolly, a specialist on the Russian economy and military at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said Friday.

The arrests are “sending a message in a strategically important sector. But also offering the chance to settle some scores,” he said.

Officials have not said for how long Mumindzhanov will be detained.

He is deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District, which was reformed this year as part of a broader Russian response to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. The district — which encompasses St. Petersburg — had previously existed until 2010, when it was absorbed into another district.