Sergei Sukhov arrested amid sweeping military fraud probe in Russia

Sergei Sukhov, the former head of the Construction Branch of the Central Military District’s Military Construction Enterprise (VSK), has been arrested, reports the portal "The Insider". A criminal case has been initiated against him concerning "large-scale fraud". This is the latest arrest in Russia in recent days.

The media in Russia is abuzz with the latest arrest. This time, Sergei Sukhov is in custody, accused of large-scale fraud. According to RBC journalists, employees of commercial organisations affiliated with VSK who worked for it under a government contract are also involved in the case.

VSK is part of the Russian Military Construction Complex. It is involved in the turnkey construction of residential buildings, neighbourhoods, buildings, and technical structures for any purpose for the Ministry of Defence. According to Russian media, the preliminary damage is estimated at approximately 215,000,000 roubles (about £4,160,000).

Russian media reported that the company recently reconstructed fortifications in the Gulf of Finland, built the Nakhimov Naval School, and built the historical-archaeological park "New Chersonesus" in Crimea.

As the media report, Sergei Sukhov's work was overseen by the former Deputy Minister of Defence Timur Ivanov, who is currently in custody. The dismissed deputy minister is accused of accepting a bribe, but - as independent media claim - the real reason for the arrest is suspicions of treason. Ivanov was referred to in Russia as the right-hand man of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, whom Putin also removed from his position in May.

That's not all; on 24 July, Andrei Belikov, the former CEO of the Military Construction Enterprise, was detained on charges of abuse of power when executing state defence orders.

On 1 August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs also announced the arrest of Vladimir Pavlov, the head of Voentorg SA, on charges of embezzling vast amounts of Ministry of Defence funds.