The arrest of a senior protection official on bribery suspicions alerts Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu’s diminishing standing and the rising affect of the safety providers, two sources within the Russian authorities and an individual near the Kremlin informed The Moscow Instances.
All spoke on situation of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Shoigu, a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin, has withstood criticism from pro-war hawks and a mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group in the course of the first two years of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The high-profile arrest of his deputy Timur Ivanov — whose immense wealth and lavish way of life had been no secret — displays the wrestle for assets and affect inside Russia’s elite as Putin’s new presidential time period begins, The Moscow Instances’ sources mentioned.
“To begin with, it is market redistribution,” a senior authorities official informed The Moscow Instances. “However the public blow to the Shoigu camp can also be very severe. Ivanov supervised not simply building, however navy contracts — that is the largest and most scrumptious.”
Ivanov, who was detained in his workplace Tuesday evening on suspicion of taking a bribe of not less than 1 million rubles (about $10,500) and remanded by a Moscow court docket on Wednesday, is seen as a detailed ally of Shoigu.
In his function overseeing building, housing and property administration for the Armed Forces, he steadily visited Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories all through the full-scale invasion.
He made a number of inspections of the Mariupol residence complicated that Putin visited throughout his solely journey to the occupied metropolis.
A couple of months earlier than Putin’s go to, Ivanov and Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-installed head of occupied Donetsk, visited the complicated’s building web site, heaping reward on the brand new buildings surrounded by homes that had been destroyed throughout Russia’s siege of the town.
The 2 blamed the destruction on “neo-Nazis,” a time period generally utilized by Russian officers to consult with Ukrainian officers and navy.
As well as, Ivanov oversaw the development of a water pipeline from the Don River to the Seversky Donets-Donbas Canal, which Russia used to produce water to occupied Donetsk and Luhansk. He additionally supervised the development of 90% of the defenses on the road of contact between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries.
In an interview with the Protection Ministry-run TV channel Zvezda, Ivanov boasted of his means to shortly assemble housing and social and navy services. The primary secret, he mentioned, is the power to inspire builders.
“Comrades, come on, let’s get collectively and construct higher than everybody else! It really works,” Ivanov mentioned.
The luxurious way of life loved by Ivanov and his household was well-known to Russia’s safety providers and political elite.
An investigation by late Putin critic Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Basis (FBK) revealed the glamorous lifetime of Ivanov, who favored to have fun his birthday in St. Tropez and occasion with different high-ranking Russian officers and businessmen.
“There have been many actual abuses when it comes to the administration of military property. But it surely was price arresting him for them years in the past,” a supply near the Protection Ministry informed The Moscow Instances.
That the arrest comes forward of Putin’s inauguration to a fifth presidential time period and subsequent formation of a brand new authorities “says extra about political causes and Sergei Shoigu’s weakening place” than it does about Ivanov himself, the supply added.
The Moscow Instances’ sources agreed that Ivanov’s arrest wouldn’t have an effect on the Russian military’s means to proceed its invasion of Ukraine, as a result of he “had nothing to do with navy affairs.”
“In all probability, this won’t stop Sergei Shoigu from retaining his place within the new authorities both,” the Russian official mentioned. “However his place will likely be noticeably weakened.”
“Basically, what occurred can also be in Putin’s pursuits. He by no means lets any group get too sturdy. And this will likely be introduced to the general public as a battle in opposition to corruption,” one other Russian official mentioned.
The Federal Safety Service (FSB) will probably use the deputy minister’s arrest to gather compromising info on the whole Protection Ministry, together with its chief, knowledgeable Andrei Soldatov informed The Moscow Instances.
“Ivanov will now testify in opposition to everybody,” Soldatov mentioned. “That is often a type of management, not repression. That is how the Kremlin regime solves the duty of sustaining manageability — as they perceive it.”
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