Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ One of the creators of Russia's missile defence system, Alexander Talalaev, is currently on trial accused of a "dead souls" fraud. At the same time, the hugely expensive National Defence Management Centre in Moscow is expected to fail an upcoming test exercise. ⬇️

2/ The ongoing trial of Alexander Talalaev highlights Russia's chronic problems with fraud in its military-industrial system. The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that he is on trial before the Tver Military Garrison Court for a 100 million ruble ($1.13 million) fraud.

3/ Talalaev is accused of a perennial Russian fraud that was highlighted by Gogol in an eponymous 1842 novel – creating "dead souls" (fictitious workers) to pad out the payroll in a military contract, in order to steal their wages.

4/ The fraud is said to have been undertaken while Talalaev headed the company RiTIS VKO, a subsidiary of the conglomerate RTI Systems. RTI has been implicated in a number of other major frauds including one involving Russia's missile defence system.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1663967994781769730

5/ RTI is also implicated in the massive overspending on the Russian Ministry of Defence's National Defence Management Centre (NTsUO), which cost 40 billion rubles ($500 million) to build and equip. Much of the money is presumed to have been embezzled.

6/ Despite having been open since 2014, the NTsUO reportedly still does not function properly. A source says that "attempts are underway to begin state tests of the Centre on Frunzenskaya Embankment, but it is already clear that they will end in complete failure".

7/ Some contractors and corrupt military officials have been prosecuted, though the better connected of these have received only slaps on the wrist. One notable culprit, Maj-Gen Vyacheslav Lobuzko, was given only a 5-year suspended sentence and fined.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1707667096455327838

8/ As VChK-OGPU notes, those with ultimate responsibility – politicians and top officials – have evaded accountability. The NTsUO project was initiated by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, and was overseen by Deputy Defence Minister and later Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.

9/ It's widely assumed that corruption in the Russian military-industrial complex, including in the wildly expensive NTsUO project, goes to the top – Shoigu himself lives in an $18 million mansion. But it seems unlikely that he will be held accountable. /end

Source:
t.me/vchkogpu/43836