The head of the Russian military’s clothing and food supplier Voentorg was arrested on fraud charges, law enforcement officials said Thursday.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said the CEO had “entered into a criminal conspiracy” with several other individuals to sell toiletry kits to the military at inflated prices. She did not mention the company executive by name, but according to Voentorg’s website, a man named Vladimir Pavlov has served as CEO since 2012.
Law enforcement authorities estimate that the “organized criminal group” overcharged the military 400 million rubles ($4.6 million) through government contracts between 2019 and 2022.
“As a result of these actions, Russia’s Defense Ministry and the Russian state budget have suffered particularly large-scale damage,” Volk said.
She added that Voentorg’s CEO and the “beneficiary” of a company that manufactured the overpriced supplies — a 41-year-old native of Russia’s republic of North Ossetia — were placed into custody.
Police said they questioned more than 30 witnesses and carried out over 60 searches in Moscow and four other regions in connection to the alleged fraud scheme. A video showed law enforcement agents searching an office.
Since April, a number of senior military officials have been arrested on various charges ranging from bribery to abuse of power, an apparent purge that began with the arrest of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov.
The EU sanctioned Voentorg’s parent company in June 2022 over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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