General Yuri Kuznetsov sentenced to 12 years in prison for bribery

On Wednesday, the former chief personnel officer of the Ministry of Defense, General Yuri Kuznetsov, was sentenced by the 235th garrison military court to 12 years in prison for a bribe from businessman Leva Martirosyan, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the courtroom.

“Finally sentence Kuznetsov to 12 years in prison... with a fine of 125 million rubles, with the deprivation of state awards,” the judge announced the decision.

The property of General Kuznetsov’s wife was also kept under arrest.

The court sentenced the second defendant, Martirosyan, to 10 years in prison with a fine of 62 million rubles. In addition, the court retained the seizure imposed on the property, namely: the “Lord Pantocrator” icon, 14 wristwatches, an officer’s sword, 120 million rubles, as well as coins, a house and plots of land, a set of bracelet and earrings, panels, tie clips.

As it was established in court, General Yuri Kuznetsov in 2021-2023, holding the position of chief of the 8th Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, received a bribe from Krasnodar businessman Leva Martirosyan in the form of a land plot and a building for certain actions in the interests of the bribe-giver. Initially, the cost was estimated at 30.5 million rubles.

Then the amount of the bribe charged to him was increased to 80 million rubles.

As a result, the court found Kuznetsov guilty of receiving a bribe of 62 million rubles.

The defense of the defendants told RIA Novosti that they will appeal the verdict and will seek its overturning.

Kuznetsov and Martirosyan have been in pretrial detention since May 2024.

Martirosyan’s lawyer Mikhail Karapetyan told RIA Novosti that half of the plot, which the investigation charges Martirosyan with as a bribe, was paid for by Kuznetsov’s wife personally; the materials contain payment documents from the bank and receipts dating back to 2020-2021, about payment for land and transfers of money for the construction of a house for Kuznetsov, which was carried out by the businessman.