The key facts
- The amount of possible embezzlement in Defense Ministry construction is about 12 billion rubles, at least 32 facilities
- Detentions took place in Tuva, Khakassia, Novosibirsk and Murmansk regions; at least seven participants in the scheme, three at large
- Gorbachev, according to Mash, has confessed and requested a special procedure for the case
New episodes in the case of embezzlement in military construction
Around 12 billion rubles may have been embezzled during the construction of military facilities in Russia. This was reported, citing its own data, by the Telegram channel Mash; the outlet Life.ru relayed this information, stressing its preliminary nature. At least 32 structures are involved, which were listed as built in documents but were in fact never handed over to the Defense Ministry. Among the mentioned facilities are an aviation control post on Wrangel Island and a tank driving range in Novosibirsk intended for the
Detentions and suspects
According to preliminary data, investigators have identified at least seven participants in the scheme. Detentions took place in Tuva, Khakassia, Novosibirsk and Murmansk regions, and at least three more alleged accomplices are at large. One of the central figures is named as Yevgeny Gorbachev, former head of the Main Directorate for Troops Arrangement, who previously headed the company Spetsstroy-1, which carried out military contracts. In 2024 he was sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony in a case of embezzling funds allocated for the construction of Defense Ministry facilities in the Arctic; the new investigation, according to information received, began in May 2026 and concerns other episodes.
Confession and arrests
It is reported that Gorbachev has confessed in the new case and asked for it to be considered under a special procedure — without a full examination of evidence or questioning of witnesses. His testimony, it is believed, helped identify other participants in the scheme. One of them, Vitaly Prudnikov, according to available information, left for the SVO zone before the new case was heard. Among those recently arrested, Anton Gordeyko, co-owner of the construction company Krastim, is also named: he was transferred to Moscow, where a court extended his detention; at the hearing, the man complained that court procedures had made him miss a lunch in the pre-trial detention facility that his relatives had paid for.
Connection with earlier investigations
Life.ru previously reported on the criminal case against Gorbachev and other Defense Ministry contractors: among those named were Yulia Mervaezova, former first deputy minister of construction of the DNR, and Vadim Vygulyarny, former head of a military construction company. In April 2026 the same outlet examined Vygulyarny's case in detail: he had confessed to embezzling 9 billion rubles in the execution of 14 state contracts. Thus, the new sum of 12 billion rubles relates to other episodes and does not include the previously mentioned 9 billion in Vygulyarny's case.
