A former Deputy Defense Minister of Russia, a retired army general, has been detained amid allegations of embezzlement. The investigators are seeking his arrest for fraud. According to the Investigative Committee, the general is accused of large-scale fraud. From 2021 to 2024, while in charge of the development, maintenance, and operation of the "Patriot" park, he enriched himself using the institution's resources. He used construction materials to build his country house in the Krasnogorsk district and forced park employees to work for free on his three-hectare estate. The scheme also involved the park's director, Vyacheslav Akhmedov, and the deputy head of the Ministry of Defense's Main Department of Innovative Development, Vladimir Shesterov. Both were arrested based on their testimonies, claiming they received money from the general and paid him about three million rubles. The detained general also owns numerous other valuable properties in prestigious areas of Moscow and the Krasnodar region, with a total value of over 500 million rubles. Among his possessions is a mansion in the Krasnogorsk district, built with funds embezzled from the park, where contractors were forced to build and maintain his estate. He also owned two cars: a Mercedes A200 and a Volkswagen Tiguan registered in his wife's name. The general faces up to ten years in prison for fraud.
Another suspect involved in the embezzlement at "Patriot" park, a general, has been placed under house arrest due to health issues. At the beginning of August, it was reported that a major general, Vladimir Shesterov, had been released to house arrest. He remains under house arrest in his home in the Ruzsky district of the Moscow region until September 21. The park's director, Akhmedov, and General Shesterov have been charged with embezzling over 30 million rubles of budget funds. According to the Investigative Committee, the money was embezzled through payments for unfulfilled work and undelivered goods. The fraudulent scheme took place between the autumn of 2022 and July 2024. Both defendants have fully admitted their guilt in large-scale fraud. Akhmedov is being held in pretrial detention, while the other suspect has been placed under house arrest due to health issues. The latter owns a 35.3-square-meter apartment and a Skoda Yeti car. His income in 2017 amounted to 3.076 million rubles. The following year, he purchased a Harley Davidson XG750 motorcycle, with a similar income of about three million rubles. In subsequent years, the general obtained a 71-square-meter apartment. He is also accused of corruption and supplying poor-quality food to military personnel in the Special Troops Control.
The director of "Patriot" park has been arrested as part of the investigation. Alongside him, a high-ranking general has also been detained. It was revealed that Shesterov and his wife own a 1.2-thousand-square-meter plot of land with a two-story house in the “Tsarskoye Selo” cottage community in the Moscow region, as well as a 1.5-thousand-square-meter plot in an elite gated community on the territory of the “Luzhki” recreation home. The family also owns three apartments in the capital—on Bolshaya Sadovaya, Levoberezhnaya, and Zelenogradskaya streets. Additionally, they possess an apartment in the military village of Mulino in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
