Russia Arrested Three Former Officials Of Belgorod Region

They are accused of embezzlement in the construction of fortifications.

The former head of the capital construction department (CCD) of Russia's Belgorod region Alexei Soshnikov and two of his subordinates Larisa Streletskaya and Andrey Reshetko have been sent to a pre-trial detention center on charges of especially large embezzlement in the organization of construction of a defense line on the border with Ukraine (part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code), law enforcement agencies told TASS. The defendants were transferred to Moscow together with Novosibirsk businessman Sergey Petryakov, who is also under arrest. The decision on choosing a measure of restraint was made by the Meshchansky district court. The ex-officials face up to 10 years in prison.

Streletskaya worked as head of the analytical department, cost estimation and pricing of the UKS. Reshetko was deputy head of production. According to the investigation, together with their boss and other officials, they secured contracts for controlled and front firms, and accepted knowingly unfulfilled work. Initially, Soshnikov had the status of a witness. Earlier, vice-governor Rustem Zainullin and businessmen Ivan Novikov and Konstantin Zimin close to him were arrested in the case of embezzlement in the construction of fortifications in the Belgorod region. Another businessman Dmitri Borovlev has absconded and is on the wanted list. The deputy head of the region is accused of fraud on a particularly large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code, up to 10 years in prison). According to investigators, he embezzled at least 32 million rubles.

In total, in 2022-2024 Belgorod region was allocated 19.5 billion rubles from the federal budget for the construction of fortifications along the border with Ukraine. The contractor was the UKS, which was headed by Soshnikov until December 2022. According to the investigation, he and Zainullin "used their official position for personal purposes and the interests of third parties" for illegal enrichment at the expense of public funds. In particular, they concluded 26 agreements with "Region Siberia" and "Stroyinveststrezerv" Borovlev and Petryakov for 1.14 billion rubles. Of this amount, the businessmen received almost 925 million rubles, "thanks to the abuse of power" on the part of Zainullin and Soshnikov. Petryakov immediately made large purchases: he spent on an apartment in Moscow and a Jeep Grand Cherokee car.

Afterward, another part of the money was spent through companies owned by the vice-governor's confidants - Zimin and Novikov - and transferred 32 million to Zainullin. The Prosecutor General's Office has already filed a civil suit for 925 million rubles, demanding that it be recovered from the group of defendants for the state.

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