Rusty coast: for which the former Deputy Minister of Defense was sentenced to 13 years

The Moscow City Court sentenced former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov to 13 years in prison. The court found him guilty of embezzlement and legalization of illegally obtained funds totaling over 4 billion rubles. Ivanov's lawyers called the verdict a "massacre" and said they would appeal it. Meanwhile, Ivanov is facing another trial in a bribery case, the investigation of which has not yet been completed. This means that the sentence may subsequently increase significantly, up to 22 years in prison, the lawyers said. The details of the high—profile case are in the Izvestia article.

Episode one. Buying ferries

On July 1, the Moscow City Court sentenced Timur Ivanov, former Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, to 13 years in prison. The court found the former official guilty of embezzlement of budget funds and the legalization of about 4 billion rubles of criminal proceeds.

According to the investigation, there were two episodes of Ivanov's criminal activity. The first of them occurred in 2015 and is associated with the embezzlement of budget funds. At that time, Timur Ivanov oversaw the purchase of two ferries for the Kerch ferry in Crimea.

The purchase was handled by the Oboronlogistics company. It was part of the Ministry of Defense and was a subsidiary of JSC Oboronstroy, which was then headed by Timur Ivanov. Oboronlogistics was headed by the second person involved in the current case, Ivanov's subordinate Anton Filatov.

The ferries were purchased with budgetary funds, as they were supposed to be used by the Ministry of Defense. As follows from the materials announced in court, Oboronlogistics purchased the cargo ferries Lawrence and Maria in Greece. According to the documents provided by the company, it paid €12.4 million for them. But in reality, the investigation believes, they cost much less, and the difference "settled" in the pockets of the accused. The transaction took place through an offshore company, Turinvest Services Limited, registered in Hong Kong.

The investigation believes that as a result of fraud on the part of ferries, the state suffered damage amounting to 216 million rubles.

Episode two. Intercommerce Bank

The second episode in which the court found Ivanov guilty occurred in 2016. According to investigators, then, on the eve of the bankruptcy of Intercommerce Bank, €45 million (3.9 billion rubles at the exchange rate of that time) was illegally withdrawn from its accounts and then legalized.

Intercommerce was founded in 1991 (originally called Stork). The central bank revoked his license on February 8, 2016 for a number of violations of the banking law. "With the unsatisfactory quality of assets, Intercommerce did not adequately assess the risks taken in this regard," the regulator said in a statement. — A proper assessment of credit risk at the request of the supervisory authority revealed a complete loss of own funds (capital). At the same time, the bank was involved in conducting questionable transit operations."

Shortly before the revocation of the bank's license, the 3.9 billion rubles were withdrawn from his accounts, which the investigation imputed to Timur Ivanov. These funds, according to the case file, were withdrawn through transfers to the accounts of two foreign companies — Hong Kong-based Turinvest Services Limited (the one that participated in the ferry purchase scheme) and Cyprus-based Fromark Investments Limited.

The contracts with them were concluded under the guise of buying and selling foreign currency, and were fictitious, the investigation believes.

In 2015, Timur Ivanov had not yet been appointed to the post of Deputy Minister of Defense, he worked as the general director of JSC Oboronstroy. He received a position in the Ministry of Defense in May 2016 and oversaw the management of property and quartering of troops, as well as their housing. He was also responsible for the construction, reconstruction and overhaul of facilities, and military mortgages.

In addition to Ivanov and Filatov, the former chairman of the Board of Interkommerce Bank, Alexander Bugaevsky, as well as the bank's top manager, Felix Neuberg, a citizen of Germany and Israel, were involved in the withdrawal episode. They were put on the international wanted list, arrested in absentia, and the materials against them were placed in separate proceedings.

Episode three. A bribe

Initially, Timur Ivanov was detained on charges of accepting a particularly large bribe. It happened on April 23, 2024.

According to investigators, the former deputy Minister of Defense provided patronage to Defense Ministry contractors who, in return, performed work on private facilities owned by him for free. The investigators estimated the amount of these services at 1,185 billion rubles.

On June 20, 2024, Ivanov was removed from office, and on September 24 of the same year, it became known about the arrest of his mansion near Moscow worth about 1 billion rubles. In early October, the court seized three premium class cars from Ivanov - a Cadillac Escalade, a Mercedes—Benz G63, as well as a 1967 retro car.

Timur Ivanov's fleet consisted of 12 cars in 2019. The cost of the most expensive — Chevrolet Suburban and ZiS-110 — varies from 11 to 18 million rubles.

Charges of embezzlement (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code) and money laundering (part 4 of Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code) Ivanov was charged with bribery a little later, in October 2024. It was on these episodes that the Moscow City Court sentenced. The bribery case has not yet reached court, and the investigation is ongoing.

The trial of Timur Ivanov was held behind closed doors, but the journalists were allowed to announce the verdict. In connection with the renovation of the Moscow City Court, the verdict was announced in the building of the former poorhouse of the Evangelical Guardianship of the Poor. There were no empty seats in the hall.

The prosecution asked for 14.5 years in prison for him (the court limited it to 13), for Anton Filatov - 14 years (the court sentenced him to 12.5 years).

The ex-deputy minister will serve his sentence in a general regime colony.

The court also sentenced Ivanov to a fine of 100 million rubles, Filatov — 25 million. And he jointly recovered 216 million rubles from the two defendants in the case in favor of the General Directorate of Military Equipment and 3.9 billion rubles in favor of the Deposit Insurance Agency.

In addition, the court turned more than 65 million rubles and €13,000 seized from Ivanov during the search into state revenue. And he left the property of the ex-official under arrest — apartments, cars and land plots totaling 2 billion rubles.

In addition, the court stripped Ivanov of the Order of Merit for Patronymic II degree and the title of Honored Builder of Russia.

What the lawyers said

Timur Ivanov's lawyer Murad Musaev said he would appeal the verdict.

"Ivanov was made a victim for show, this clearly does not correspond to what he deserved," the lawyer said. — He feels cheerful, just like us. This is not the end, this is just the beginning, we are not going to put up with this.

Journalists asked why Ivanov was grinning during the sentencing.

"Because he doesn't get discouraged,— the lawyer replied.

The lawyer called the verdict a "judicial reprisal" and a "demonstrative execution." In his opinion, the investigators were unable to prove Ivanov's involvement in the imputed episodes.

In addition, according to the lawyer, Ivanov has no other property except a village house.

Timur Ivanov's sentence confirms that in high-profile cases involving the Ministry of Defense, the courts are not inclined to be lenient, Alexey Gavrishev, head of AVG Legal, told Izvestia. And if the second bribery case goes to court and ends with a guilty verdict, Ivanov's sentence may increase according to the totality of punishments.

"This will happen if the sentence on bribery is stricter than the current sentence," the lawyer said. — If the second sentence is milder, the sentence will remain 13 years. A more severe sentence will swallow up a milder one.

The sentence looks harsh, but generally corresponds to the practice in cases where there is a particularly large-scale theft, says Ilya Drozdov, a lawyer at the Moscow bar Association Union of Lawyers. And the fine of 100 million rubles is comparable to the amount of the imputed theft.

"If Ivanov's guilt in the second bribery case is proven, the court, taking into account all the episodes, may impose a final sentence of up to 22.5 years in prison," the lawyer believes.

After the verdict comes into force, Ivanov may be transferred to a penal colony, or they may be left in jail to participate in interrogations or confrontations in a bribery case, the lawyers interviewed by Izvestia explained. According to them, high—profile cases of large-scale bribes can take a long time to investigate, sometimes for two or three years.