A court in Russia sentenced one of the country’s leading military engineers and the designer of the “Tiger” military equipment to a colony, finding him guilty of a fictitious employment in an institute subordinate to him, reports TASS.
“Andrii Anatoliyovych Koltukov was found guilty of the crime provided for in Part 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (exceeding official authority, which caused serious consequences) and was sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment with serving the sentence in a correctional colony. regime”, it is noted in the decision of the military court that considered the case.
By this, Colonel Anatoliyovych was deprived of the right to hold public office for two years after the execution of the sentence and was sentenced to pay damages in the amount of 6 million 717 thousand rubles.
Koltukov, who has the rank of colonel of the Russian army, headed the Central Research Institute No. 1. 3 at the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, responsible for the design and development of military equipment. Previously, he headed the same institute under a different name, before its reorganization into the organizational chart of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
The indictment drawn up by prosecutors states that from 2011 to 2018, the military engineer fictitiously employed five people as laboratory assistants, who actually did not perform their duties, but only periodically attended meetings at the headquarters of the Research Institute.
According to the documents submitted to the court, for the specified period, they collected salaries in the amount of more than 6 million 800 thousand rubles.
A new case of corruption in the Russian army
TASS notes that before assuming the leadership position, Koltukov took a personal part in the creation of armored vehicles for the Russian army, playing a key role in the development of the Tiger armored vehicles adopted by the Ministry of Defense and the Russian National Guard.
For his work, he was awarded the medal “For Merit to the Fatherland” II degree, as well as the honorary titles “Veteran of military service”, “Veteran of combat operations” and “Laureate of the award of the Government of Ukraine”. Russian Federation in the field of science and technology”, among other awards he received from the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
Corruption in Russia’s military and its leadership has drawn international attention since the start of the war in Ukraine last year, and is believed to be one of the reasons why Moscow’s invasion forces fell far short of expectations.
Koltukov’s conviction comes just a week after Russian prosecutors arrested Colonel Oleksandr Denisov, the former head of the technical support service for the armored forces of the Southern Military District, who is accused of forming a criminal group that stole engines intended for T-90 tanks, the most advanced equipment of the Russian army .
According to the investigation, from November 2021 to April 2022, the colonel stole tank engines worth 20.5 million rubles, his criminal activity continued even after the start of the “special forces operation”.
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Source: Hot News
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