Moscow detains general in military park fraud case

One of Russia’s top generals has been caught up in the alleged embezzlement of state funds at Patriot Park, the country’s Investigative Committee has announced.

Major General Vladimir Shesterov is the deputy chief of the Main Directorate for Research and Development at the Russian Defense Ministry. He was detained on Monday alongside Vyacheslav Akhmedov, director of the renowned military park outside Moscow.

“According to the investigation, these individuals and their accomplices were involved in the theft of budget funds allocated for the activities and functioning of the Patriot Park and the convention and exhibition center,” said Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko.

Akhmedov has been jailed, while the courts are still deciding what to do with Shesterov, Petrenko added.

Shesterov and Akhmedov face fraud charges under Article 159, Section 4 of the Russian criminal code. While the authorities have not offered specifics about their alleged offense, some Russian outlets have hinted at corrupt dealings involving millions of rubles.

Shesterov’s most recent income declaration, dated 2018, listed an income of just over three million rubles ($35,500), a 35 square meter apartment, a Skoda Yeti SUV, and a Harley-Davidson XG750 motorcycle. 

Patriot Park opened in 2015, up the road from the famous Kubinka Tank Museum. The complex stretches over 3,500 hectares and includes the Armed Forces Cathedral, a series of museums, a hotel and a convention center. Most recently, it hosted an exhibition of NATO-manufactured vehicles captured during combat operations against the Ukrainian military.

Investigators came to Patriot Park late last month and interrogated several employees, according to TASS. The agency’s sources said the raid was part of a probe into alleged embezzlement involving government contracts worth more than 40 million rubles ($470,000).

TASS sources also denied rumors in other outlets that the July raid had been related to the case of former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, charged with accepting large bribes. Ivanov headed Oboronstroy, the Defense Ministry’s construction agency, at the time Patriot Park was built.

So far in 2024, Patriot Park was the supplier of “targets for practical small arms shooting” to the tune of 149,000 rubles ($1,755), according to the outlet RBK, while receiving 33 government contracts worth $470,000.

Several high-ranking officials in the Russian Defense Ministry have been arrested since President Vladimir Putin appointed Andrey Belousov to head the department in May.