Army General Dmitry Bulgakov.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on July 26 that Dmitry Bulgakov, a former Deputy Defence Minister, had been arrested and charged with corruption, the Interfax news agency reported.

The RIA state news agency quoted the FSB as saying that an investigation was underway to establish the facts of Mr. Bulgakov’s alleged “illegal activities.” It said he was sent to a pre-trial detention centre in Moscow.

Mr. Bulgakov, who was in charge of military logistics until he was dismissed in September 2022, is the latest in a string of high-profile Defence Ministry figures to have been charged with corruption.

The arrests are the biggest scandal to hit the Russian army in years and come at a time when the new Defence Minister, Andrei Belousov, an economist with no military experience, has been tasked with purging the army of corruption and streamlining its finances to fund what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The clampdown on high-level corruption began on April 23 with the arrest of Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov, a close ally of ex-defence ministry Sergei Shoigu.

Since then, at least five military and defence officials have been arrested.

The Kremlin has played down the previous arrests and said other Russian state agencies were engaged in similar anti-corruption efforts.

Mr. Bulgakov, 69, is a graduate of Russian military academies and has held various logistics positions in the army, according to his official biography.

He served as Deputy Defence Minister until he was replaced in 2022 and is the recipient of several top military and civilian awards, including the Hero of Russia award, the country’s highest honour.

Evan Gershkovich. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Russia will hold the espionage trial of detained U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich, who denies charges of collecting secrets for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), behind closed doors later this month, a court in city of Yekaterinburg said on June 17.

Evan Gershkovich was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29, 2023, in a steak house in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.

“According to the investigation authorities, the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Gershkovich, on the instructions of the CIA, in March 2023, collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region about the activities of the defence enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment,” the Sverdlovsk Regional Court said.

“The process will take place behind closed doors.” The first hearing is scheduled for June 26,” the court said.

Russia has said Mr. Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” and the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said he was trying to obtain military secrets. Mr. Gershkovich, the first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the Cold War over three decades ago, denies the charges.

The White House has called the charges “ridiculous” and President Joe Biden has said Mr. Gershkovich’s detention is “totally illegal”. The Wall Street Journal denies he is a spy and has called for his immediate release, as has his family.