The Kremlin, Accused of Concealing the True Reason for the Arrest of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov: “Myth

According to two sources with connections in the Federal Security Service (FSB, the main successor to the KGB), the order for Timur Ivanov’s arrest came from Russian President Vladimir Putin and the case is not related to the publicly circulated corruption allegations. In reality, according to the cited publication, Ivanov is targeted by suspicions of treason.

“The bribe is for the public. For now, they don’t want to talk publicly about the betrayal. It’s a huge scandal. After all, we are talking about the deputy minister of defense,” says one of iStories’ sources.

Timur Ivanov (48 years old) has been in the sights of both the Russian Investigative Committee and the FSB for several years. One of the sources says that he stayed in office thanks to the Minister of Defense Serghei Șoigu, who even called the head of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate of the FSB and cursed him for being on the trail of his “protégé”.

A lawyer notes to the Russian publication that Timur Ivanov’s case is handled by the Department of Military Counterintelligence, which usually does not deal with corruption issues.

“Now they decide what to do with him: either put him in prison for bribery and “finish” him in the area, or reclassify the charge as treason,” says one of the sources.

Instead, Timur Ivanov’s lawyer claims that “there are no other charges other than the one announced regarding bribery.”

The spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said for his part that he was not aware of the revelations in iStories. However, he described them as “speculation” and asked the public to be informed only by what the Russian authorities say. In addition, Peskov said Putin talks daily with Shoigu, but declined to answer whether the two also discussed the Ivanov case.

Accused of taking a bribe of one million rubles

Timur Ivanov was pre-arrested for two months for bribery. According to the state news agency TASS, the Russian deputy defense minister is suspected of accepting a bribe of one million rubles, equivalent to at least $10,800. He denies the bribery charge and says he is cooperating with the authorities.

The Investigative Commission did not provide further details in this case in which two more people were detained, namely Sergei Borodin, a close associate of the Russian Deputy Minister, and businessman Aleksandr Fomin. The latter is suspected of having bribed Timur Ivanov. According to TASS, citing sources close to the investigation, Fomin would have testified against the Russian deputy minister.

Timur Ivanov is subject to European Union sanctions as a senior official of the Russian Ministry of Defense in charge of the construction of military installations.

Follow us on Google News