News that confused Russia! Shoygu’s deputy is in custody, his ultra-luxurious life is gone

Russian media reported that Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained on suspicion of accepting bribes. Ivanov’s detention is considered a rare move in Russia.

THEY ANNOUNCED IT WITH A 22-WORD SHORT EXPLANATION

According to the 22-word brief statement of the Russian Investigative Committee, Deputy Defense Minister Ivanov was detained yesterday. However, no details were given about the accusations against him, only that he was suspected of ‘receiving a large amount of bribe’. This crime is punishable by up to 15 years in prison in Russia.

TASS news agency reported that Ivanov is suspected of accepting bribes of at least one million rubles. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the report on Ivanov’s arrest was presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is also among the information received that Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu was informed.

48-year-old Ivanov, one of Shoygu’s 12 deputies, was among the names sanctioned by both the USA and the EU after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Before joining the Ministry of Defense in 2010, he worked for companies operating in the field of fuel and energy and in the Moscow regional government. He became Deputy Minister in 2016.

HE WAS ON THE ‘RICHEST PEOPLE’ LIST

Russian military bloggers have long accused top generals of corruption and incompetence. The allegations increased with the Russian army’s hasty withdrawal from some parts of the country following its success in the first days of the invasion of Ukraine.

There are differing views within Russian elites about the war, which has caused the worst deterioration in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Ivanov, who cannot be reached because he is in custody, has long been associated with the wealth of luxury real estate and lavish parties that characterize some segments of the post-Soviet Russian elite.

Forbes magazine listed him as one of the richest men in Russia’s security structures. According to Russian news sources, Ivanov is the highest-ranking Russian official to face such accusations since Moscow began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

LUXURY VILLAS, ROLLS-ROYCE AND JEWELRY…

In 2022, the Russian Anti-Corruption Foundation, chaired by the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, published a study titled ‘War and Feast: The dazzling life of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov’.

The investigation revealed that he and his family led a lavish lifestyle. The investigation, which scrutinized the lives of Ivanov and his family, revealed that the deputy minister and his wife, Svetlana Ivanova, a former television presenter, spent August every year in France’s famous holiday resort, the Cote d’Azur. The couple was spending their summer holidays in a luxury villa with a monthly rent of more than 100 thousand euros. Moreover, he paid 90 thousand euros for the 37-meter yacht they rented.

Emphasizing that Timur and Svetlana never really hid their luxurious life, the research documented luxury villas and yachts, as well as helicopters, Rolls-Royces, jewels and non-stop parties in the unlimited life of the Deputy Minister of Defense, a civil servant, and his unemployed wife.

The research, which obtained the e-mail archive of 8 thousand e-mails of Svetlana, whose previous surname was Maniovich, examined the paid invoices, receipts and thousands of photographs and wrote that such details about the life of no high-ranking official in Russia have been revealed. The research also documented that Svetlana Ivanova celebrated her birthday in Istanbul in 2018, and 50 guests were brought for the luxurious celebration that cost 178 thousand euros.

HE IS KNOWN FOR HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH PESKOV

In April 2023, Ukrainian newspaper Pravda filmed Timur Ivanov’s wife Svetlana having fun at the Courchevel ski resort in the French Alps during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition to the Ivanov couple, he is also known for his friendship with Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitri Peskov.

“Today is a good day,” wrote Maria Pevchikh, Head of Investigations of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, on her social media account. Like many high-profile opposition figures, Pevchikh was forced into exile under pressure from the Kremlin. Most of the dissidents who remain in Russia are behind bars. Navalny, who mobilized the masses by exposing corruption in Putin’s administration, died in prison in mid-February.