Subhi Agrawal
A former Deputy Russian Defence Minister Dmitry Bulgakov has been arrested and charged with corruption, the latest in a series of high-profile military arrests.
Second arrest in a week
Dmitry Bulgakov was in charge of military logistics for almost 15 years from 2008 to September 2022 when was dismissed and detained by the FSB security service. As per the ministry, he was taking another job and failed during the early months of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, leaving troops acutely undersupplied. He was arrested on charges of flaws in supporting operations in Ukraine.
Russia’s Investigation Committee said Bulgakov was detained in Moscow and ordered held in custody pending an investigation and trial. It is the second arrest in the week after the head of the Defense Ministry’s construction division, Andrei Belkov was arrested under the suspicion of abuse of power.
Who is Dmitry Bulgakov?
Dmitry Bulgakov joined the army in 1972 as he completed his study from Volsk Higher Military School. Bulgakov became a Major General in 1992 after graduating from the Military Academy of Logistics and Transport. He was a Russian military leader and a specialist in the field of logistic support of the armed force.
Bulgakov had also received two awards, Hero of the Russian Federation in 2016 and Doctor of Economic Sciences. He was replaced by Mikhail Mizintsev after his dismissal on corruption charges.
Putin making an attempt to reduce corruption
A number of senior defense ministers have been arrested recently on various charges such as fraud, bribery or abuse of power, for instance, Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested for bribery and dismissed from the position.
Additionally, Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced Sergei Shoigu with the technocrat economist Andrei Belousov over the accusations of mishandling the war in Ukraine. This move of Putin can be seen as an attempt to reduce corruption in the defense ministry line.
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