MOSCOW (AP) — The director of an exhibition park showcasing Russia’s army would possibly was once arrested on fraud fees together with a most sensible Protection Ministry reputable, a part of a sweeping investigation into abuse of place of job within the most sensible echelons of the army management.Vyacheslav Akhmedov, head of the Patriot Park — often referred to as Russia’s “army Disneyland” — and Maj. Gen Vladimir Shesterov, deputy of the Protection Ministry’s inventions division, have been detained, Russia’s Investigative Committee mentioned Monday.The committee, Russia’s most sensible prison investigation company, mentioned the 2 are suspected of embezzling executive price range earmarked for the park, which opened in 2015.Patriot Park options presentations of weaponry and serves as a venue for his or her demonstration and fight reenactments. The sprawling facility additionally contains an air base together with a firing vary, museums, a convention middle or even has a Russian Orthodox cathedral dedicated to the defense force on its 5,400 hectares (over 13,300 acres).
The park, a puppy challenge of former Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu, is designed to encourage patriotism in Russia’s more youthful generations. Patriarch Kirill in 2020 consecrated the large, khaki-colored Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, which options mosaics of Soviet and Russian infantrymen. Russian President Vladimir Putin additionally in my view donated cash to fee the primary icon for the church, in step with the Kremlin.
The detention of Akhmedov and Shesterov follows a sequence of arrests of senior army officers who have been a part of the interior circle of Shoigu, pushed aside through Putin quickly after his inauguration in Would possibly to a 6th time period.
Shoigu, who had non-public ties to Putin, was once given the high-profile submit of secretary of Russia’s Safety Council, however a number of participants of his entourage misplaced their jobs and lots of of them have been arrested, together with most sensible affiliate and deputy, Timur Ivanov, who was once jailed on bribery fees in April.Shoigu were broadly criticized for Russia’s setbacks at the battlefield in Ukraine and was once accused of incompetence and corruption through mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who introduced a temporary mutiny in June 2023 to call for his dismissal.
