Russia opens fraud case against former deputy defense minister
PHOTO CAPTION: Russian army servicemen walk at an exhibition displaying armoured vehicles and equipment captured by the Russian army from Ukrainian forces in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, at Victory Park open-air museum on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow, Russia May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Investigative Committee said on Thursday it had opened a fraud case against Pavel Popov, a former deputy defence minister, in the latest of a string of corruption probes.
The case against Popov, who has served in his role since 2013, is the third investigation into a senior defence official relating to the construction of a military theme park.
Major General Vladimir Shesterov and Vyacheslav Akhmedov, director of the war-themed Patriot Park near Moscow, were detained earlier this month on suspicion of fraud.
"Popov, responsible for the development, maintenance and operation of Patriot Park, enriched himself at the expense of this establishment," the Investigative Committee said.
Patriot Park, a major tourist attraction, displays a vast collection of Russian and Soviet weaponry and offers visitors the chance to clamber on tanks and take part in combat simulations.
Investigators said Popov, beginning in 2021, had diverted various building materials from Patriot Park to his own country house for installation work.
Several properties owned by Popov and his family members, worth more than 500 million roubles ($5.47 million), were being checked as part of the fraud probe, investigators said.
Popov joins at least a dozen officials who, since April, have been caught up in the biggest wave of corruption scandals to hit the Russian military and defence establishment in years.
In May, soon after the first arrests, President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly removed long-serving defence minister Sergei Shoigu and replaced him with economist Andrei Belousov in what was widely seen as a move to ensure tighter management of Russia's vast defence budget and eliminate waste and graft.
Popov, 67, graduated from a military academy and served for 17 years in Russia's Emergencies Ministry. Shoigu, now secretary of Russia's security council, was head of that ministry from 1991 to 2012.
($1 = 91.3500 roubles)
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
