Former Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov has been sent to a pretrial detention center on a “corruption-related” criminal case, the Main Directorate of the Investigative Committee reports.
Bulgakov held the position of Deputy Defense Minister from 2008 to 2022, and was responsible for the logistical support of the Russian army.
As RBC notes, since 2010, Bulgakov has also been responsible for military transportation, the condition and reconstruction of roads and railways used by the Defense Ministry, the operation of military unit buildings, veterinary and phytosanitary supervision, fire protection measures, and environmental safety.
RIA Novosti also reported on the general's detention, citing the FSB. «Investigative actions are underway to establish the causes and conditions that contributed to the illegal activity,» the agency quotes the agency's press service as saying. Interfax writes that Bulgakov was placed in Moscow's Butyrka pretrial detention center No. 2.
Putin dismissed Bulgakov in September 2022. The ministry then reported that he was moving to another job, but did not specify which one.
A RIA Novosti source later reported that Bulgakov's case was related to the system of supplying troops with low-quality food at inflated prices, «even in the conditions of the SVO.»
According to the agency’s interlocutor, the deputy minister “received kickbacks from commercial structures whose interests he lobbied for when concluding contracts with the Ministry of Defense.” The source claims that the general lobbied for the interests of the Gryazinsky Food Plant JSC — a case of misappropriation of property was opened against the management of the plant, RIA Novosti claims.
In 2022, the investigative publication Metla found out that Bulgakov's daughter Marina Meshkova had been a co-founder of the company Sodruzhestvo Veteranov since 2009. In 2018, this company was liquidated, and before that, it earned money on government procurement — this includes the supply of juices, pasta, tea, cookies and dried fruits for the Ministry of Defense. At the same time, journalists found the general's secret dacha in the village of Buzlanovo near Novorizhskoye Highway worth about 100 million rubles.
Metla wrote that the general's daughter's business partners also earned money on contracts with the army. For example, Agrokoopprodukt received contracts from the Ministry of Defense for the supply of coffee and flour, and GTP Vozrozhdenie supplied the army with compotes, cucumbers and chocolate.
In April, a Moscow court arrested another former deputy defense minister, Timur Ivanov. He is accused of bribery on an especially large scale (Part 6, Article 290 of the Criminal Code). After the resignation of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in May 2024, other high-ranking military officials were also detained: former commander of the 58th Army Ivan Popov, head of the Defense Ministry's personnel department Yuri Kuznetsov, and deputy chief of the General Staff Vadim Shamarin.
Updated at 15:24. Information from a RIA Novosti source about the supply of poor-quality food has been added.