A second senior official of the Russian Ministry of Defense was arrested accused of corruptionofficials said Tuesday, days after the president, Vladimir Putinreplaced the defense minister in a government reshuffle that fueled speculation about new purges in the department.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top security body, said in a statement that Lieutenant General Yury Kuznetsov, head of the ministry’s main personnel office, was arrested for bribery and detained pending investigation and trial.
Kuznetsov is accused of accepting a remarkably large bribe, a charge punishable by up to 15 years in prison. His home and other properties were raided and authorities seized gold coins, luxury items and 100 million rubles (just over a million dollars) in cash, the Committee said in a statement.
Movements in Russia’s high command
Putin on Sunday replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister, a post he had held for 12 and a half years, at the start of his fifth term in power, and named him secretary of the Security Council, a position similar to that of adviser to National Security in the United States, replacing Nikolai Patrushev.
To take over the ministry he proposed Andrei Belousov, a senior economic official and former deputy prime minister. Many expect Belousov to carry out more purges.
Patrushev, a powerful member of Putin’s inner circle, was named presidential adviser. Alexei Dyumin, the governor of the Tula region and who is often mentioned as one of the president’s possible successors, will also move to a presidential advisory position after the government restructuring.
Although Shoigu, who has a personal relationship with Putin and for years accompanied him on vacation in the Siberian mountains, will occupy another high-profile position, the future of his closest team in the Defense Ministry seemed in question with Belousov at the helm.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Patrushev will oversee Russia’s shipbuilding industries in his new role, but could take on other responsibilities later.
Furthermore, he rejected claims that Shoigu’s transfer was a demotion, describing his new occupation as a “very high-level position with broad responsibilities.”
Shoigu’s deputy minister, Timur Ivanov, was arrested last month on bribery charges and will be detained until the investigation is completed. His arrest was widely interpreted as an attack on Shoigu and a possible indication of his departure from the ministry.
Shoigu is considered a key figure in Putin’s decision to send troops from Ukraine. The Kremlin hoped for an operation that would quickly overwhelm the smaller and less well-equipped Ukrainian army, and that the country’s population would welcome its troops.
But the conflict united Ukrainians in the defense of their country, dealing humiliating blows to the Russian army such as the withdrawal after trying to take the capital, kyiv, and a counteroffensive that expelled Moscow’s forces from the Kharkiv region and the city. southern Kherson.
The remodeling coincides with offensives by Russian troops on various sectors in Ukraine, an attempt to take advantage of the slowdown in the arrival of Western aid to the country, in what many observers consider a decisive moment in the war.
The Kremlin has tried to alleviate widespread confusion over the election of an economic expert with no military background as defense minister, pointing out that Gerasimov, who directs the fighting in Ukraine, maintains his position.
Source: AP
