Two high-ranking officers of the Russian FSB have been sentenced by the Moscow Garrison Military Court.
Sergey Bespalov, previously an officer of the 2nd Service, ex-deputy head of the 4th Service, and later an APS FSB employee, along with Evgeniy Sviridov, former operative of the 3rd Department of SEB in the Moscow FSB Directorate, were charged with receiving $23 million in bribes.
Payments were made both in cash in Moscow and via Dubai accounts by banker Ilya Kligman, who sought resolution of issues with the MVD GSU and the Central Bank of Russia.
Evgeniy Sviridov was sentenced to seven years in prison, while Sergey Bespalov received six years in a penal colony.
Case materials indicate that the receipt of funds may have also involved the head of Directorate “M” of the FSB Vladimir Sergienko (Bespalov is his closest associate), as well as the head of Directorate “F” of the GUEBiPK of the MVD Aleksandr Ivanov. However, they remain untouchable figures for now.
Initially, arrests were made along the chain, starting with Andrey Fetisov, vice president of the Rospolitika foundation, and Bashir Kushtov, a friend of Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov.
At first, they gave testimony against each other, then against former operative Evgeniy Sviridov. In turn, Sviridov testified against FSB APS officer Sergey Bespalov.
Sources link Sviridov — whose father was also a chekist — to the team of former Tambov region governor, now senator Aleksandr Nikitin. Notably, just a couple of weeks after Sviridov’s arrest, his company “Inkomnefteremont,” which had over 2 billion rubles in revenue last year, was re-registered to Ilya Pshennov.
The company holds significant state contracts from Transneft, RusHydro, FSK EES, and others. Recently, its interests (or those of its hidden beneficiaries) have shifted to Chukotka, where it secured a contract worth 10 billion rubles.
