The state prosecutor asked the Moscow City Court to sentence former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov to 14 years and 6 months in a penal colony.
He is accused of embezzlement in the purchase of ferries for the Kerch crossing, as well as the withdrawal and legalization of over 3.9 billion rubles from the Interkommerts Bank.
In addition to Deputy Minister Timur Ivanov, his ex-subordinate Anton Filatov is also involved in the high-profile criminal case, which the Moscow City Court is considering in closed session due to the presence of information constituting state secrets. Both are accused of especially large-scale embezzlement through misappropriation and laundering of criminal proceeds by an organized group on a particularly large scale (part 4 of Article 160 and paragraphs “a”, “b” of Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In the course of the debate, the prosecutor asked to sentence Ivanov, a real state councilor of the Russian Federation of the 1st class, to 14 years and 6 months in a general regime colony, and Filatov, the former head of Oboronlogistics, to six months less.
In addition, the prosecutor asked to confiscate the arrested assets of the former deputy minister, estimated at 2.5 billion rubles. We are talking about land plots in Rublevka, a whole collection of cars, as well as funds in bank accounts.
According to the version of the Investigative Committee, the two defendants committed both crimes in 2015, when Timur Ivanov was the general director of Oboronstroy JSC, a company subordinate to the Ministry of Defense, and Anton Filatov was the director of its subsidiary Oboronlogistics LLC. At the same time, they acted as part of an organized group. The prosecution believes that the group included Alexander Bugaevsky, then chairman of the board of Intercommerce Bank (deprived of its license in February 2016), whose extradition request was rejected by the Czech Republic in 2019, Alexey Rezvan, deputy head of the bank’s credit department, who was arrested in absentia in 2017 and left, according to some sources, for Austria, as well as Felix Neuberg, a German citizen of Hong Kong, CEO of Tourinvest Services Limited.
The latter was supposed to stand trial together with Mr. Filatov back in 2019, but the Prosecutor General’s Office did not approve the indictment at that time, Mr. Neuberg was at large and left for his home country.
It follows from the case file that in addition to leading the criminal group, Deputy Minister Ivanov “signed the financial and economic documents necessary for the commission of the crime, including the alienation of funds belonging to Oboronstroy and entrusted to him.”
In April 2015, on the instructions of the Defense Ministry leadership, the head of Oboronstroy was instructed to purchase two ferries for the Kerch crossing at the expense of extra-budgetary sources from Vnesheconombank State Corporation. The project was implemented by Anton Filatov, who in Greece found the vessels Maria-Eleni Shipping Company and Finix-Salaminos Shipping for €6.3 million and €6.1 million respectively.
Intercommerce Bank was used as a source of interim financing (Vnesheconombank State Corporation was later to cover the costs), which attracted a number of related firms to the scheme. First, the bank issued a loan to a Russian legal entity, which funneled the funds through a chain of foreign firms and finally transferred them to the account of Tourinvest Services Limited. The latter bought two ferries in April-June 2015.
Subsequently, having received money from the state, Oboronlogistika bought the ships from Tourinvest Services Limited for the same money. However, this was done in October 2015, when the euro exchange rate rose significantly.
“The difference between the cost of the said ferry ships in the amount of 685 million 200 thousand rubles and the amount allocated to Oboronlogistika JSC for their purchase in the amount of 901 million 875 thousand rubles amounted to 216 million 674 thousand rubles.” which Messrs. Ivanov, Filatov, Bugayevsky, Rezvan and Neuberg stole and disposed of at their own discretion,” the investigation claims.
The co-defendants subsequently legalized the money received on the currency account of Tourinvest Services Limited by transferring it to the bank accounts of legal entities under their control on the basis of fictitious transactions “under the guise of payment for consulting and advisory services, sale of foreign currency, as well as the return of funds under the loan agreement,” the case says.
Also, the defendants, anticipating the revocation of Interkommerts Bank’s license, embezzled €44.9 million (at the time 3.92 billion rubles). The money was withdrawn from the bank in January 2015 under fictitious currency purchase and sale agreements. For this purpose, the company Tourinvest Services Limited was again involved, as well as other foreign firms controlled by the defendants.
According to the investigation, the funds went under the guise of purchasing equipment, construction materials, etc. abroad, where the co-conspirators also “disposed of them at their own discretion, distributing them among themselves.
The defendants did not admit their guilt in the incriminated acts.
It should be noted that at the moment Timur Ivanov is also accused of two episodes of taking bribes on a particularly large scale (part 6 of article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the version of the Investigative Committee, the former Deputy Minister of Defense received them from the head of the company “Olimpsitistroy” Alexander Fomin. At first he was accused of receiving more than 1.185 billion rubles. In such an amount the investigation estimated the services of companies, which for the assistance provided by Timur Ivanov with contracts, performed free of charge construction and repair work on real estate owned by him.
At the end of May 2025, the former deputy minister was charged with receiving another bribe in the amount of 152 million rubles. Entrepreneur Fomin is also accused of bribery in both cases (Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).