The Prosecutor General’s Office demanded that the property of former First Deputy Minister of Defense Ruslan Tsalikov and related persons worth more than 7 billion rubles be seized into state revenue. An anti-corruption lawsuit against a former military official and his relatives was filed with the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow. As Kommersant managed to find out, it was with the help of relatives and their companies that the former deputy minister, according to investigators, was able to legalize criminal proceeds, investing, in particular, in the purchase of commercial real estate in the center of the capital – in Last Lane and on Zemlyanoy Val – worth over 500 million rubles.
According to information posted Telegram channel capital courts of general jurisdiction, supervision requires the conversion of expensive real estate assets into state income – land plots and buildings in the Moscow region and in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, registered in the name of Mr. Tsalikov’s proxies and affiliated commercial organizations, as well as cars and money totaling over 7 billion rubles.
The defendants in the lawsuit, which was submitted to the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow on April 30, in addition to the former First Deputy Minister of Defense Ruslan Tsalikov, are eight individuals and three legal entities. Among them are his sons Daniel and Zaur Tsalikov, daughters Elizaveta Gogichaeva and Yulia Gogaeva, two sons-in-law – Chermen Gogichaev and Georgy Gogaev, a certain Mrs. Markovskaya, as well as entrepreneur Timur Isakov (beneficiary of four companies: Sandora LLC, Slavyanovskaya LLC, United Textile Company LLC and Ubik Textile LLC). The last one and Mr. Tsalikov are persons involved in the case of organizing a criminal community or participating in it (Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
According to investigators, the criminal community was created by Ruslan Tsalikov and the former head of the largest supplier to the Ministry of Defense, JSC Voentorg, Vladimir Pavlov. As Kommersant managed to find out, businessmen who were part of the community from August 1, 2017 to July 31, 2024, under 12 government contracts concluded by JSC Voentorg with the Ministry of Defense in 2019–2023, supplied property to the troops, including army toiletries, at prices inflated by 30–40%.
This was done by involving affiliated companies in the execution of contracts, which issued either invoices for inflated amounts or generally fictitious estimates. Thus, the investigation found that in 2022, Timur Isakov organized the conclusion of fictitious contracts between Sandora LLC and Ubik Textile LLC, controlled by him, for the sewing of bags for army toiletries, which were not sewn at all in Russia, but were purchased abroad.
As a result of these frauds, 1.185 billion rubles were stolen from the treasury, and in total, according to the Investigative Committee, 6.6 billion rubles were stolen.
At the same time, a number of defendants, including Mr. Isakov, who was transferred to house arrest, according to Kommersant, cooperated with the investigation and gave confessions.
As for Ruslan Tsalikov, the former Deputy Minister of Defense, who was sent under house arrest on March 5 for health reasons, is charged with creating and leading a criminal community (Part 2 of Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), two episodes of receiving bribes (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in the amount of 50 million rubles. and in the form of a motorcycle worth 2.2 million rubles, 12 episodes of embezzlement (Part 4 of Article 160) and legalization of part of the stolen funds (Part 4 of Article 174.1). As Kommersant found out, in the latter case we are talking about “laundering” 518.6 million rubles.
The investigation materials on this charge, as Kommersant learned, partially formed the basis for the anti-corruption lawsuit of the Prosecutor General’s Office, which oversees the Investigative Committee.
The investigation found that Ruslan Tsalikov organized the acquisition of seven commercial real estate properties in the center of the capital for the companies Tektum LLC and Dominus Zed LLC, controlled by him.
The first company in 2020 became the owner of four premises ranging from 84 to 117 square meters. m in house 24 on Last Lane, located in the prestigious Meshchansky district of Moscow. At the same time, only part of the money – more than 58.1 million rubles – was transferred to the seller, and the remaining 132 million rubles. transferred in cash.
In 2021–2022, three premises in a business center on Zemlyanoy Val with an area from 154 to almost 400 sq. m. were registered for the second company. m. In this case, the purchase was also only partially carried out by bank transfer (133.5 million rubles), while 195 million rubles. transferred to the seller in cash.
The companies Tektum LLC and Dominus Zed LLC, which are involved in leasing and managing real estate, along with Mr. Isakov’s Sandora LLC, appear as defendants in the anti-corruption lawsuit of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The co-owners of the companies, according to the SPARK-Intefax database, are the children of the ex-Deputy Minister of Defense. Thus, the company Tektum LLC is owned in equal shares by the daughters of Mr. Tsalikov, Yulia and Elizaveta, and Dominus Zed is owned by the sons Zaur and Daniel Tsalikov.
The ex-official himself, whose house arrest was extended for another three months by the Moscow Basmanny Court on April 28, still denies his guilt in theft and corruption. As well as having property worth more than 7 billion rubles.
