Vladimir Verteletsky, an employee of the defense procurement department of the Ministry of Defense, was detained in Moscow. This was reported by the anonymous Z-channel “Two Majors”; subsequently, with reference to unnamed sources, RBC, Interfax, REN TV and the Mash telegram channel wrote about the same.
Interfax claimed that Verteletsky suspected of “receiving a large bribe.” According to REN TV, “Verteletsky assisted the entrepreneur in obtaining an order and received a house and a car from him as a bribe.”
Later, the Investigative Committee reported that Verteletsky was accused of abuse of official powers when fulfilling a state defense order. The court sent him to a pre-trial detention center. According to investigators, in 2022 Verteletsky accepted unfulfilled work under a government contract, which led to damage of 70 million rubles.
At the end of April, Timur Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Defense, was arrested in connection with a bribe case. In May, Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the personnel department of the Ministry of Defense, head of the Main Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces Vadim Shamarin and former commander of the 58th Army Ivan Popov were sent to pre-trial detention on similar charges.
At the same time, Putin dismissed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and appointed Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov to his post.
Updated at 19:10. Information has been added about the preventive measure against Verteletsky and details of the criminal case against him. In this regard, the news title has been changed.