UK Defence Intelligence on interrogation of senior deputy of Russia's Defence Minister

Defence Intelligence of the United Kingdom reported that the FSB interrogated the senior first deputy defence minister of Russia, Ruslan Tsalikov, in a corruption case within the ministry. Source: UK Defence Intelligence review dated 1 May, as reported by European Pravda As noted, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov was likely implicated in the investigation, with a higher-ranking official, First Deputy Defence Minister Ruslan Tsalikov, possibly involved.

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Tsalikov, often called Ivanov's patron, was interrogated by the FSB concerning Ivanov's case. 

Tsalikov is believed to be the third person in the Russian Ministry of Defence hierarchy, after Defense Minister Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff General Gerasimov.  Like Ivanov, Tsalykov has long-standing ties to Defence Minister Shoigu. He worked under Shoigu in the Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies, and Disaster Relief, and followed him first to the governor's office of Moscow Oblast and then, in 2012, to the Ministry of Defence.

There's also a real possibility that the investigation into Ivanov could implicate Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, as some sources claim that construction agencies of the Ministry of Defence built a house for Siluanov.  Corruption has long been a problem in the Russian Ministry of Defence. In 2019, the Chief Military Prosecutor Valery Petrov stated that corruption was "pretty much the root of most of the problems in the state of the rule of law." 

Corruption was one of the factors contributing to Russia's inefficiency, especially at the onset of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when corruption was blamed for overdue soldering, poor-quality tires, and reports of fuel embezzlement.

Background:

  • In one of the previous reviews, the intelligence analysed the arrest of Sergey Shoigu's deputy, Timur Ivanov.
  • Earlier, Defence Intelligence of the United Kingdom reported a record number of desertion cases being considered by military courts in Russia.

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