• Defense Ministry
  A military court on Wednesday sentenced former senior Defense Ministry official Vladimir Shesterov to six years in prison for large-scale fraud tied to state contracts for Russia’s sprawling military theme park.

Shesterov, who served as deputy head of the Defense Ministry’s Main Department for Innovative Development, was arrested last August over the alleged embezzlement of more than 40 million rubles ($510,000) allocated for construction work at Patriot Park.

Investigators claimed that Shesterov, along with Patriot Park’s former director Vyacheslav Akhmedov and ex-Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov, siphoned off more than 25 million rubles ($319,000) between 2022 and 2024, causing what they described as “significant damage” to both the ministry and the park.

Shesterov and Akhmedov reportedly pleaded guilty and were moved to house arrest after testifying against Popov, a high-profile figure still under investigation on multiple charges including bribery, abuse of power, fraud and illegal weapons