Russian defence official detained over contract fraud allegations

The director of the Military Construction Complex of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Andrey Belkov, has been temporarily detained. He is accused of "exceeding his official powers while carrying out a state defence order." This is another arrest within the defence department, which was headed by former Minister of Defence Sergey Shoigu.

Andrey Belkov was detained by investigators in Moscow.

He is accused of abuse of power in the execution of a state defence order regarding the "delivery, installation, and commissioning of a tomograph during the reconstruction of the 9th Diagnostic and Treatment Centre of the Ministry of Defence on Komsomolsky Avenue in Moscow." Belkov is alleged to have ordered the tomograph for 121 million roubles (approx. £1 million), whereas the actual cost of the device did not exceed 76 million roubles (£638,000). The contract was supposed to have been concluded in 2019.

Belkov faces up to 10 years in prison. The editor-in-chief of the portal censor.net pointed out that on Belkov's desk, "facing the guests, stood his idols - a framed portrait of a young Sergey Shoigu and a bust of the Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin."

Importantly, earlier Belkov's work was supervised by former Deputy Minister of Defence Timur Ivanov.

Ivanov was also arrested and accused of accepting a bribe of 1.185 billion roubles (£10,8 million). He did not plead guilty to the charges. The maximum penalty he faces is 15 years of imprisonment.

Ivanov was appointed Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation by a decree of the President of the Russian Federation in May 2016. He oversaw the work of the Military Construction Complex of the Ministry of Defence of Russia.

In early July, Russian media reported that Russian General Magomed Khandaev "suddenly" died at the age of 62. He, in turn, was responsible for all construction projects in the ministry when the defence department was headed by Sergey Shoigu. Khandaev was also subordinate to the arrested Deputy Minister of Defence Timur Ivanov.

At the end of May, former commander of the 58th Army of the Armed Forces of Russia, General Ivan Popov, was arrested, who was accused of "large-scale fraud."