2024-08-06 04:00:39
The director of the main convention center of the Russian army and a high-ranking official of the Russian Ministry of Defense were arrested today on charges of fraud as part of a large-scale investigation into abuse of office in the highest echelons of the country’s military leadership, AP reported, quoted by BTA.
Russia’s Investigative Committee announced that Vyacheslav Akhmedov, the manager of Patriot Park, was arrested on fraud charges. Along with Akhmedov, Major General Vladimir Shesterov, deputy head of the Innovation Department of the Ministry of Defense, was also detained.
The committee said the two men were suspected of embezzling state funds intended for Patriot Park, a giant military exhibition and convention center west of Moscow.
Since its opening in 2015, the center, which covers an area of more than 5,400 hectares, has hosted annual army forums, international meetings and demonstrations of Russian weapons. Along with conference rooms and extensive exhibition grounds, it includes an air base, a large shooting range and even a huge Orthodox church. In 2019, President Vladimir Putin made a donation to order the main icon of the church.
The detention of the two high-ranking officials follows a series of arrests of senior military officials who were part of the inner circle of Sergei Shoigu, whom Putin fired as defense minister shortly after taking office for a new term in May.
Shoigu, who is close to Putin, was given the prestigious post of secretary of Russia’s Security Council, but several members of his inner circle lost their jobs and many were arrested, including his deputy Timur Ivanov, who has been in prison since April on charges of bribery, AP recalls.