According to the announcement on July 7 by the Russian Investigative Committee, the arrest is the result of a joint investigation between the agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the internal security unit of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya). Senior Lieutenant General Strigunov will hold the position of Rosgvardiya's first Deputy Commander from 2020 to 2023.
One of the suspected incidents occurred before Rosgvardiya was established in 2016, when Strigunov was working at the Russian interior Ministry.
In 2014, Mr. Strigunov was assigned to supervise the project to build a training center in Kemerovo province. Despite knowing that the project did not meet the technical requirements needed for use, Mr. Strigunov still directed his subordinates to continue construction.
"As a result, the contract was not implemented on time, the training center could not operate and caused a loss of more than 2 billion rubles ($25 million) to the budget" - the Investigation Committee said.
From 2012 to 2014, Mr. Strigunov was also accused of receiving bribes with a total value of more than 66 million rubles (about 840,000 USD) from many construction companies. In return, Mr. Strigunov was suspected of helping these businesses win fatty state bid packages.
If convicted, Senior Lieutenant General Strigunov could face up to 15 years in prison and a huge fine under Russian criminal law.
This is the latest arrest of senior military official in a large-scale anti-corruption investigation in Russia, especially after a strong reform of the Ministry of Defense last year.
Just a few days earlier, the Moscow City Court sentenced former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov to 13 years in prison at a labor camp for fraud and a large fine for embezzlement of the budget. A subordinate of Mr. Ivanov was also sentenced to 12 years in prison.
