The damage to the Russian Defense Ministry in the case of substandard dry rations amounted to 1.3 billion rubles.

The damage caused to the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) in the case of supplying substandard army dry rations amounted to at least 1.3 billion rubles. This was reported by law enforcement agencies to TASS on December 17.

"The Defense Ministry, which is recognized as a victim in this embezzlement case, has suffered damage worth at least 1.3 billion rubles. The defense agency may file a civil suit against the defendants. It will be decided after the investigation is completed," the report says.

The suspects in the criminal case are former managers of JSC "Gryazinskiy food plant" Alexander Mikhailenko, Valery Kovalevich and Elvira Smirnova, now they are in custody. Businessman Igor Kotelnikov was also charged in this case.

Law enforcement agencies reported that the troops were issued poor-quality individual rations at an inflated cost. Chicken and pork were used in the dry rations instead of beef, and the energy value of the rations was underestimated. According to the expert opinion, the food did not meet the technical specifications and was not suitable for consumption.

Earlier, on September 15, Basmanny Court of Moscow extended the arrest of the heads of JSC "Gryazinsky Food Combine" (GPC) Alexander Mikhailenko, Valery Kovalevich and Elvira Smirnova in the case of supplying substandard food for the needs of the Ministry of Defense.

On September 11, it was reported that the unidentified suspects in a particularly large embezzlement related to the case of dry rations may have previously escaped from law enforcers outside the Russian Federation. The documents noted that Igor Kotelnikov, a businessman accused in the case, could have "absconded from the bodies of preliminary investigation and court, including by traveling to a foreign state."

Kotelnikov was detained in June, he was arrested. On July 13, it was reported that the man died in SIZO-4 "Medved" due to cardiac arrest. The businessman was not found guilty.

It is specified that Kotelnikov was connected with the companies LLC "Konservpaklam", LLC "GPK-Prodtara" and LLC "Bruno", which appear in the criminal case of ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Defense Dmitry Bulgakov.