Russia’s anti-corruption purge in the Defense Ministry is continuing into 2025, with the latest arrest of Sergei Bolgarev, head of the 5481st Military Representative Office, on bribery charges.
On January 31, a court ordered Bolgarev into pretrial detention under Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code, which covers large-scale bribery. If found guilty, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
This was reported by The Moscow Times.
Investigators say that between 2017 and 2023, Bolgarev managed over half a billion rubles worth of military contracts, including supplies for combat units. He allegedly took 14 million rubles in bribes from Sergei Kuzmenko, the director of Impulse, a military equipment plant in Pyatigorsk. In exchange, Bolgarev approved low-quality products and gave special treatment to the company.
Bolgarev is just the latest in a growing list of high-ranking Defense Ministry officials arrested for corruption.
Earlier in January, Valentin Korbut, a former Defense Ministry official, was sentenced to six years in prison for taking 24 million rubles in bribes while managing military contracts.
Other major cases include:
Yevgeny Gorbachev (October 2024) – Sentenced to 5.5 years for stealing 232 million rubles meant for Arctic military projects.
Dmitry Kurakin (November 2024) – Sentenced to 17 years for bribery and abuse of power.
Konstantin Ogienko – Former commander of the 1st Special Purpose Air Defense Army, sentenced to 8 years for bribery.
At the end of 2024, investigators also arrested key figures in military construction, including Aleksandr Molodchenko, head of the Main Directorate of Special Construction, and Igor Kushch, a senior manager in military infrastructure projects.
In August 2024, Major General Vladimir Shesterov was caught embezzling government funds for a military exhibition park.
By mid-2024, corruption arrests reached some of Russia’s highest-ranking officers. Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of Defense Ministry Personnel, was detained for accepting a luxury cottage as a bribe. Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, head of Military Communications, was also arrested over a 36-million-ruble bribery scheme.
Three former deputies of ex-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu have also been detained:
General Dmitry Bulgakov – Accused of overseeing 1.3 billion rubles in corrupt military contracts.
General of the Army Pavel Popov – Charged with fraud worth 30 million rubles.
Timur Ivanov – Accused of taking bribes worth 1.185 billion rubles while overseeing military construction.
A Growing Crisis in Russia’s Defense Ministry
In just eight months of 2024, Russia’s Investigative Committee launched 497 criminal cases into corruption and fraud in military contracts.
With so many high-level arrests, it is clear that Russia’s Defense Ministry is facing a deep corruption crisis at a time when the country is still engaged in war. The scale of these cases suggests widespread fraud, shaking trust in military leadership and raising questions about how deeply corruption is affecting Russia’s war effort.
