Ex-Deputy Minister Ruslan Tsalikov is facing multiple corruption and bribery charges

A former first deputy minister at the Russian Defense Ministry, Ruslan Tsalikov, has been detained in a major graft case, the Russian Investigative Committee has announced.

Tsalikov is suspected of "creating a criminal organization whose members embezzled budget funds between 2017 and 2024, as well as of money laundering and bribery," Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement.

The former top official faces charges on 12 counts of embezzlement and money laundering, as well as two counts of bribery, the committee said on Thursday.

Tsalikov is set to remain in custody for a week before the court determines whether the ex-official will be put into pre-trial detention or face other restrictive measures, it added.  

He has been repeatedly questioned in another high-profile case, which has rocked the Russian Defense Ministry since April 2024. The central figure in the affair, former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars and a massive fine last year after a court found him guilty of embezzling state funds. Following the shakeup at the ministry prompted by Ivanov's arrest, several other top officials and generals ended up in custody over alleged embezzlement, fraud, and related charges.  

Tsalikov was never implicated in Ivanov's case and was only considered a witness in it. If found guilty, the ex-official is likely to face a prison term of up to 20 years, legal experts have told Russian media. 

Last month, Russian Investigative Committee head Aleksandr Bastrykin branded graft a "strategic threat" to the country's security and economy, advocating stricter punishments for such crimes. "I suppose the time has come to introduce as a criminal punishment for corrupt officials the total confiscation of all property accrued," Bastrykin told a meeting of the Investigative Committee Collegium.