Timur Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Defense Arrested for Corruption, Lived in Moscow in a Princess’s Mansion

The luxury building was registered in the name of Zakharova’s driver, Stanislav Kuznetsov. He himself said this during his testimony, the Baza Telegram channel reports.

Kuznetsov, 51, worked for Zakharova for 12 years and was told on Wednesday, April 24, that his services were no longer needed.

Kuznetsov is listed as the owner of the company Noble Nest, which owns the estate mansion built for a Russian princess in 1821. An investigation by Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation revealed that Ivanov bought this house in 2012 for 600 million rubles (6 million of euros) and, at the same time, registered it with the company that owned the driver.

The three-story building with an area of ​​1000 square meters is a cultural heritage site of regional importance and an architectural monument of Moscow. It was the main residence of Ivanov and his family, the Russian press writes.

TASS, quoted by Moscvich Mag, writes that the court seized, as a provisional measure, not only Ivanov’s assets, but also his family’s assets. “Everything registered by him and his wife, as well as ex-wives and five children, including adopted children, all these assets have already been seized by the capital’s court for the purpose of taking provisional measures, in case Ivanov is later found guilty,” Moscow law enforcement agencies announced.

Apart from the mansion in Moscow, Ivanov also owns a sumptuous villa near the capital, in Rubliovka. The house, which is owned by the Russian Federation but once belonged to the Deputy Defense Minister, has three floors, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, three living rooms, a fireplace, a cinema, a barbecue terrace and an open veranda. The finish is made of expensive materials. There is also a guest house in the yard, which is half the size of the main one, 445 sq m.

Real estate agents estimate the cost of the house at 1 billion rubles, about 10 million euros.

According to the investigators’ statement regarding the confiscations of the general’s assets, he owned two more apartments in his name, two more in the name of his wife and three other properties in the names of his children. One of them is in Mexico.

Also listed are vehicles registered to the deputy minister and family members: M72 motorcycles, Triumph Harley-Davidson, Chevrolet Suburban and Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, Bentley Continental, Aston Martin and Hummer H2, and a Ford Transit van.

The deputy minister’s wife, according to investigators, owns a villa with an area of ​​192 square meters and four plots of land with areas between 2,000 and 3,000 square meters.

Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained on April 23 at his office on charges of accepting bribes. The Basmanni court remanded him until June 23. Ivanov has long been an ally of the Minister of Defense, Serghei Şoigu. He worked with him in the government of the Moscow region in the early 2010s and reached the Ministry of Defense in 2016.

A Forbes source called Ivanov’s arrest the beginning of a “purge of those close to Shoigu.” Ivanov, who oversaw all major construction projects at the Ministry of Defense as well as huge budgets for the supply of troops, could be sent to a penal colony for 15 years.

Also, in connection with this case, the general director and former founder of ANO SK Red Stars, Sergey Borodin, whom the media called Ivanov’s confidant or “wallet”, was arrested.

At the same time, nothing is known about the fate of the deputy minister’s ex-wife, Svetlana Zakharova. According to unconfirmed information, a 50-year-old woman could have been detained together with Ivanov.

In December 2022, FBK launched an investigation into Ivanov and Zakharova’s lavish lifestyle. The couple were said to have spent more than a million euros on vacations, while Svetlana’s personal bills were paid by a company that was supposed to be involved in restoring the occupied and destroyed city of Mariupol.
In addition, FBK learned that between 2010 and 2018, the couple rented villas on the Cote d’Azur every summer: they spent at least 850,000 euros just on renting homes in Saint-Tropez. The investigation also provided evidence that Timur Ivanov owns villas in Rubliovka and Tver.

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