Former Deputy Defense Minister Ivanov Sentenced for Massive Corruption in Russian Military

A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov to 13 years in prison on corruption charges.

Ivanov, who had been responsible for military construction projects since he was appointed in 2016, was taken into custody in April 2024. His case initiated a broader anti-corruption campaign led by the Kremlin within the Defense Ministry, resulting in the arrest of several other high-ranking officials.

Initially facing bribery charges, prosecutors later accused Ivanov of misappropriating 4.1 billion rubles ($52.4 million) through overseas bank transactions, along with an additional 216 million rubles ($2.7 million) linked to the acquisition of two ferries for a route connecting Russia and annexed Crimea.

Alongside his prison sentence, the Moscow City Court imposed a fine of 100 million rubles ($1.2 million) on the 49-year-old former defense official and revoked his state honors, as reported by the exiled news outlet Mediazona. The court sessions had been conducted privately since March.

Prosecutors had requested a prison term of 14.5 years.

Independent journalist Farida Rustamova stated that Ivanov’s sentence is the longest handed down to a current or former high-ranking Russian government official in contemporary history.

Additionally, the Moscow court sentenced Anton Filatov, the former leader of the Defense Ministry’s subsidiary Oboronlogistika, to 12.5 years in prison.

Referred to as the «glamorous general» in Russian media, Ivanov is the highest-ranking military official arrested since the onset of the Ukraine invasion in 2022. He was regarded as a close associate of the former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was dismissed in May 2024 and subsequently appointed as secretary of Russia’s Security Council.

In 2018, Forbes Russia listed Ivanov among the wealthiest figures in the nation’s military and security sectors, estimating his family’s wealth at 136.7 million rubles ($1.5 million).

Since 2022, Ivanov has been under sanctions from both the U.S. and the EU due to his position overseeing military construction in the Defense Ministry. Last month, Russian state media revealed he is also under investigation for a new bribery case.