Major General Valery Mumindzhanov, deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District, was arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe of more than 20 million rubles (200.000 euros), the Investigative Committee of Russia announced today.
It is the latest arrest of a senior military official in a wide-ranging investigation into abuse of power in Russia's top military. In the last few months, he is the ninth military figure to be arrested on charges of fraud, bribery or abuse of office.
Among the others is Deputy Minister of Defense Timur Ivanov, who was arrested for accepting bribes in April and dismissed from his post.
The arrests began shortly before President Vladimir Putin replaced Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with economist Andrei Belousov.
Muminzhanov took bribes from suppliers who wanted a contract with the Ministry of Defense for uniforms, including for soldiers fighting in Ukraine, the Investigative Committee said.
At the time of the bribe payment, Mumindzhanov was the head of the Department of Procurement and Resources of the Ministry of Defense, and the value of the contract for the uniforms was 1,5 billion rubles (15,14 million euros).
Investigators are looking into how Mumindzhanov and his family acquired more than 120 million rubles (1,17 million euros) of illegal property in the Moscow and Voronezh regions.
Last Sunday, former Deputy Minister of Defense Pavel Popov was detained on charges of fraud. Popov is accused of forcing companies that had contracts with the military Park of Patriots in Moscow to work on his properties for free. Investigators are also assessing whether Popov legally acquired property worth 4,97 million euros.
Mumindžanov is the deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District, formed for Russia's response to the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO. That district, which includes Saint Petersburg, existed until 2010, when it was annexed to another district.
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