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Former Russian General Sentenced to 17 Years for $75M Military Fraud
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A former senior Russian military official has been sentenced to 17 years in a high-security prison for his role in a major procurement fraud case. Colonel General Khalil Arslanov, ex-Deputy Chief of the General Staff, was found guilty of large-scale fraud and bribery related to the purchase of military communications equipment.
The 235th Garrison Military Court ruled that Arslanov authorized inflated contracts for portable radios and other gear, passing off Chinese-made equipment as Russian. According to the investigation, the fraud led to the embezzlement of approximately $75 million.
While serving as head of the Main Communications Directorate, Arslanov allegedly approved deals that violated defense procurement terms. Much of the equipment, investigators said, was manufactured in China and only assembled in Russia, despite being sold at premium prices as domestically produced goods.
State news agencies reported that the contracts involved state defense company Voentelecom, with the total value of the disputed purchases nearing $16.9 million. Another $2.15 million was misappropriated from funds earmarked for satellite monitoring and communications oversight.
Arslanov was also fined about $270,000 and stripped of his military rank and state honors, including the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” and the Order of Zhukov. He maintains his innocence, telling the court: “The charges are fabricated.” He argued that the equipment in question was exclusively for military use and lacked a real market price, disputing the prosecution’s claims.
Prosecutors had sought a 19-year sentence. Defense attorneys described the final verdict as “extreme.”
The case dates back to 2019, when charges were first filed. Arslanov was taken into custody in early 2020.
Two co-defendants—Colonel Pavel Kutakhov and military inspector Igor Yakovlev—were also convicted of large-scale fraud and sentenced to 7 and 6 years, respectively. The court determined that the total amount embezzled across all episodes reached about $18 million.
Previously, it was reported that the Moscow military court has sentenced a Russian activist who organized humanitarian aid for Ukraine and helped evacuate civilians from the war zone to 22 years in prison.
