A week ago in Moscow, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained on suspicion of taking a bribe and soon arrested. Informed sources commented on this event: “A catastrophic blow to Shoigu. If he doesn’t survive, he’ll sit next to him. This is 100 percent just his person. They’ve been together since 2010.”
In August 2023, searches were carried out in a division of the untouchable Spetsstroy (a military construction company - the patrimony of Timur Ivanov ). The reason is the failure of the state contract for the construction of a key facility for strategic missile forces in Uzhur (Krasnoyarsk Territory). At the same time, searches were carried out at the merchants’ executors.
According to the interlocutors, it is quite obvious that the “Ivanov case” is directed against Sergei Shoigu. Ivanov was considered untouchable; he came to the Ministry of Defense together with Shoigu, with whom he worked in the Moscow region. In 2013-2016, Timur Ivanov oversaw the work of Oboronstroy and the Main Directorate for the Arrangement of Troops (GUOV). The former head of the latter company, Vladimir Abramenko, received three years in prison at the end of 2015. According to investigators, Abramenko, considered a good friend of Ivanov, caused damage to the budget of the Ministry of Defense by 114 million rubles. GUOV, supervised by Ivanov, acted as a contractor for the Ministry of Defense, giving its orders to subcontractors.
The money for intermediary services obviously ended up in the pockets of Timur Ivanov. An audit carried out by auditors showed that 93% of the volume of work worth 10.7 billion rubles was outsourced.
Timur Ivanov oversees construction at the Ministry of Defense, including the work of FSUE GVSU No. 14. This structure of the Ministry of Defense has not had a profit since 2015, the total loss by 2021 amounted to more than 60 billion rubles. Now the Federal State Unitary Enterprise is in the process of reorganization.
The activities of Timur Ivanov are closely connected with Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who oversees regional projects in the territories seized in Ukraine, recalls the Rukriminal publication. The construction of housing in Mariupol is carried out by the Military Construction Company of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (PPK "VSK"), created in 2020. With revenue of 52 billion rubles. the company in 2022 received a loss of 4.6 billion rubles. Its suppliers worth more than 50 billion rubles. the company does not disclose. According to the source, VSK’s contractors are companies associated with Timur Ivanov and Marat Khusnullin. The latter is also under attack now.
The detention of Timur Ivanov threatens to turn into a huge scandal for the Deputy Prime Minister if investigators are allowed to develop the “Ivanov case” to the fullest.
As the VChK-OGPU telegram channel learned, the development of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov took two years, all this time his telephone conversations were tapped, and there were bugs in a number of premises. Timur Ivanov is accused of receiving a bribe not only with services and work, but also with money. As for the uniform in which Timur Ivanov was in the judicial “aquarium” during his arrest, the security forces did not allow him to change clothes. His driver Andrei was ready to take off his things. Employees could deliver the uniform from the office or home where the searches were taking place. But the security forces insisted that Ivanov be in uniform in the glass cage in front of the cameras.
Olimpsitistroy LLC, whose co-founder Alexander Fomin, according to the investigation, testified against the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Timur Ivanov, regularly sued the structures of the Ministry of Defense, in particular, the Main Directorate for the Arrangement of Troops (GUOV), the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Main Military Construction Directorate" ( GVSU) in connection with the execution of contracts. The parties sued each other for tens of millions of rubles; during the consideration of the cases, corruption details were revealed, but the initiation of criminal cases was never reported. It is possible that Ivanov could help resolve legal issues in favor of Olympsitistroy.
One of the last decisions in favor of Olimpsitistroy was made on January 22. The Moscow Arbitration Court rejected the GUOV’s claim for the recovery of unjust enrichment in the amount of 31 million rubles as part of the execution of an agreement for measurement work, surveys, engineering surveys and the development of design and working documentation based on them, as well as other work. The agreement was concluded in order to fulfill the state defense order on April 27, 2018.
“In support of his claims, the plaintiff referred to the circumstances that during the inspection by the military prosecutor’s office of the Central Military District of the legality of the implementation of the state defense order for the construction of storage system infrastructure, violations of anti-corruption legislation were revealed during the construction of storage zone No. 4, aimed at an unreasonable increase in cost construction work by including in the design and estimate documentation fictitious information about the performance of construction and installation work in cramped conditions, which led to their rise in cost and, as a consequence, causing damage to the state on an especially large scale,” the court decision says.
The court, however, concluded that the amount of the claims “represents an erroneous payment for work accrued with the unlawful application of the constraint factor.”
On September 20, 2021, the Moscow arbitration court terminated the proceedings on the claim of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs against Olympsitistroy for 31.8 million rubles (also unjust enrichment) and approved a settlement agreement between the parties, within the framework of which a set-off was made taking into account previous decisions in favor of Olympsitistroy. On November 27, 2020, the same court, following the claim of Olympsitistroy, recovered 41.3 million rubles of debt from the State Administration for Educational Institutions as part of the execution of the contract for the construction of the Kemerovo Presidential Cadet School.
On February 26, 2024, the Moscow Arbitration Court accepted the GVSU claim for recovery of 64.5 million rubles from Olimpsitistroy. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 27. When considering this claim, Ivanov will definitely not help the defendant.
According to competent sources, there is a lot that is unclear in the case of Timur Ivanov, since details may not be disclosed in the interests of the investigation. So far it has become known that Sergei Shoigu’s deputy has long been in operational development, which was carried out by the military counterintelligence of the FSB.
It is noteworthy that the scandal in the Ministry of Defense broke out on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration, which will take place on May 7. After it, there will be a change of government, which may not include some of its members. There are several versions of the loudest scandal in the Ministry of Defense since the resignation of its previous head Anatoly Serdyukov in 2012.
According to published information, his good friend Sergei Borodin was arrested along with Timur Ivanov. He is the founder of Volzhsky Bereg LLC. This company in 2021-2023 belonged to OSS LLC (Oboronspetsstroy), which is owned by Alexander Novikov and Dmitry Berezyuk. They could be the next ones the security forces come for.
The fact is that OSS LLC, together with Dmitry Khavronin, are the founders of Brigantina LLC, and Khavronin and Alexander Fomin own Olimpsitistroy LLC, which acts as a contractor for the Military Construction Company (VSK), which is engaged in construction in Mariupol. In 2023, the revenue of Olimpsitistroy LLC amounted to 65 billion rubles. (+241%), profit – 11 billion rubles. (+283%).
From 2015 to 2016, Sergei Borodin was the founder of MCC Credit Line LLC, ceding his share to Svetlana Maniovich, formally the “ex-wife” of Timur Ivanov, whom he divorced in 2022 so that his missus would avoid sanctions.
Timur Ivanov did not admit his guilt in accepting a bribe. Most likely, he is counting on the help of Sergei Shoigu, but in such circumstances, hope may be in vain. Ivanov can be reminded of all his sins, of which there are a great many.
In March 2015, the deputy head of the Department of Property Relations of the Ministry of Defense, Alexander Gorshkolepov, was detained, who took over the corruption baton from Evgenia Vasilyeva, a defendant in the “Oboronservis case.” Gorshkolepov was considered a member of Shoigu’s team, but received almost eight years in prison for bribes.
The head of the Department of Property Relations of the military department at that time was Dmitry Kurakin, under his leadership the return of the Ministry of Defense facilities squandered by Serdyukov took place. It was Kurakin who advised the appointment of Gorshkolepov to the position. In 2020, Dmitry Kurakin was arrested on suspicion of receiving bribes while working in the Ministry of Defense.
The “black hole” under Timur Ivanov was the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome. Back in 2017, the Ministry of Defense was unable to account for 29 billion rubles. in front of Roskomos. It was going to collect them from unscrupulous contractors, from whom they could receive kickbacks. The ex-heads of the now liquidated Spetsstroy company, Alexander Zagorulko and Alexander Buryakov, were suspected of embezzling 450 million rubles. How much money was stolen during the construction of Vostochny cannot be calculated to this day, although Vladimir Putin has paid attention to the facility more than once.
Last July, members of a criminal group operating in 2012-2015 were convicted. The organizer of the scheme was businessman Ruben Mazmanyan, the damage caused to the Ministry of Defense amounted to 482 million rubles. The perpetrators received from 5 to 8 years in prison. Timur Ivanov faces up to 15 years in prison. He can pull other leaders of the Ministry of Defense with him, including Sergei Shoigu.
According to the source cited by the Rukriminal publication, it is absolutely clear why Timur Ivanov so wants his case to be transferred to the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. He has long had a “cordial” relationship with the acting Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation - the head of the GVSU Konstantin Korpusov, who previously did not allow procedural checks and criminal cases related to colossal thefts in the construction and property complex of the Ministry of Defense to proceed. Which actually explains the refusal of military investigators to detain Ivanov and the desire of his lawyers to transfer the criminal case to the GVSU.
In response, Timur Ivanov generously presented Korpusov and his department. In addition, as a token of gratitude for the “protection protection” at the expense of the Ministry of Defense in an amount exceeding 1.5 billion rubles. (!), without proper execution of design and estimate documentation, on Ivanov’s personal instructions, a small building at 18/19 Kholzunov Lane with an area of about 800 sq.m. was reconstructed for the GVSU.
Even more cynical is the fact that Korpusov was not satisfied with the already very expensive finishing of the cabinets in the high-tech style, and he asked Ivanov to finish the cabinets with valuable rare species of African wood.
The grand opening of this building by Korpusov and Ivanov with the participation of Alexander Bastrykin was supposed to take place on April 15, but the “friends” did not have time to do this.
By the way, Timur Ivanov was awarded the departmental medal of the Investigative Committee of Russia. And the Main Military Investigation Department petitioned Bastrykin for the award.
Recently, sources studied by the editors of Kompromat-Ural reported new details of the friendship between Deputy Minister of Defense Timur Ivanov and Acting Head of the Main Military Administration of the ICR Konstantin Korpusov.
The building at 18/19 Kholzunova Lane was previously occupied by the headquarters of the long-range aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces. At the request of Korpusov, Deputy Minister Ivanov, in an emergency, within a month, threw out all the military personnel of the headquarters from the building and began reconstruction there at the expense of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. And the reconstruction of the building, on behalf of Ivanov, was carried out by the same Olympsitistroy LLC, the director of which is Alexander Fomin, an accomplice arrested together with Ivanov.
The cost of reconstruction of one square meter is about 2 million rubles, which in itself clearly indicates the fact of a huge theft of budget funds. The theft scheme is trivially simple - the building belongs to the RF Ministry of Defense, the reconstruction was carried out at the expense of the Ministry of Defense, controlled by a company, a free use agreement was not concluded with the RF IC, and the building is used by the main military investigative department under the leadership of Korpusov.
I wonder how Bastrykin will react when the Ministry of Defense presents the Investigative Committee with mutual settlements for 1.5 billion rubles, some of which were clearly stolen...
And here’s what another confidential person said about the relationship between Korpusov and Ivanov: “Korusov is very grateful to Timur Ivanov for the appointment. Indeed, in 2022, Korpusov was supposed to be appointed, in fact, with a demotion, as the head of the Armed Forces of the Strategic Missile Forces, but instead he is now the acting deputy head of the Investigative Committee...
At the same time, there are two more leaders in the shadow of Korpusov from the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Moscow, who have risen to the leadership positions of the GVSU Administration and are considered members of the “Timur Ivanov team” - these are Sokhrin and Pautov, who directly “solve” all of Korpusov’s issues. Starting from July 2023, these “leaders” are “clearing” the GVSU Investigation Department from the central apparatus investigators, who, in their opinion, are not ready to lie under them and unconditionally carry out their verbal “instructions.” As a rule, experienced investigators who are much older than Sokhrin and Pautov, with 5-10 years of investigative experience, come under attack. Accordingly, young investigators are appointed in their places, including from the garrison level, who are personally loyal to Sokhrin, Pautov, Korpusov and, one might assume, Timur Ivanov.” End of quote.
According to an insider of the above-mentioned publication, Korpusov, together with Sokhrin and Pautov, took as a basis to increase indicators by investigating single-cell cases at the district level, including by seizing and transferring already solved criminal cases from districts and fleets to the central office together with investigators. That is, they are engaged in fraud. “If the investigator goes too deep into the investigation, and even worse, contacts Timur Ivanov and his team, they begin to accuse the investigator of low professional suitability and, without any reason, confiscate his files, asking the colonels of justice to independently find a new place of service, right up to the garrison . For others, this is a lesson that “Timur and his team” should not be approached. At present, virtually all the heads and deputies of departments who served in investigative positions for more than 25 years in comparison with the above-mentioned persons have been dismissed, while everyone left in silence, did not see anyone off, and did not even say a word of gratitude.”
