A former top authorities of Russias National Guard has actually been apprehended on suspicion of bribery and abuse of power, the current in a string of arrests within the effective internal security agency, state-run media reported Monday.Viktor Strigunov, who served as first deputy director of the National Guard until late 2023, was taken into custody by police, the TASS news agencyreported.A spokesperson for Russias Investigative Committee, which probes major criminal offenses, verified to the RIA Novosti news firm that Strigunov is under investigation in connection with a major state building project in the Kemerovo area of Siberia.According to detectives, in 2014 Strigunov, while supervising a multimillion-dollar state agreement to develop a training facility in Kemerovo, offered the order for the task to continue despite existing restrictions that need to have halted it.The task was ultimately never ever completed, leading to losses to the state going beyond 2 billion rubles ($25 million), the Investigative Committee spokesperson said.Strigunov also presumably accepted over 66 million rubles ($850,000) in bribes from representatives of personal companies in between 2012 and 2014, detectives state.
The payments were presumably made in exchange for his security and patronage in the execution of significant federal government construction contracts.Strigunov, a veteran of the force, was designated as first deputy director of the National Guard in January 2020 after heading the National Guards Siberian District.Though he stepped down from his post in the autumn of 2023, he continued to serve as a consultant to the agencys director Viktor Zolotov, a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin and former head of the governmental security service.The case is part of a more comprehensive series of criminal cases targeting senior figures within Rosgvardia, a company established in 2016 with a mandate that consists of riot control, anti-terrorism and internal security.At least three other senior authorities have been apprehended on corruption-related charges considering that February.Major General Konstantin Ryabykh was jailed in connection with a big bribery case; in March, Nikolai Chepkasov, head of the Guards Main Center for Information Technologies, facedsimilar allegations.Major General Mikhail Varentsov, who led Rosgvardias Department for Digital Development and Information Protection, was also detained on fraud charges in Moscow in April.