Former Deputy Minister of Defense Detained Dmitry Bulgakovwho was responsible for supplying the army. It is believed that because of him, the Ministry of Defense overpaid for dry rations, and the warehouses contained rotten uniforms and rusty machine guns. As Life.ru found out, the general's family also fed on supplies to the military.
What a hero!
If you open the official biography of General Bulgakov, you can feel pride for the country. Army General, Hero of Russia (*aggressor country). There are so many award bars on his uniform that it makes your eyes water. His personal qualities are also impressive: in 2020, as part of the crew of a special fire engine (SPM), he personally drove into the territory of a burning ammunition depot in the Ryazan region, where he took part in extinguishing the fire and carrying out emergency rescue operations.
In addition, he is a Doctor of Economics, a full member of the Interregional Public Organization “Academy of Military Sciences”, a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Humanities, and a professor at the Academy of Security, Defense, and Law and Order Problems. It seems that only Timur Ivanov.
What is Bulgakov suspected of?
General Bulgakov served as Deputy Minister of Defense from 2008 to 2022, and was responsible for the logistical support of the army – the purchase of military equipment, the supply of ammunition, and the nutrition of military personnel. In addition, he oversaw the reconstruction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the construction of a railway line bypassing Ukraine. In 2019, he led the Defense Ministry's Operational Group for extinguishing forest fires in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk Region, Buryatia, Transbaikalia, and Yakutia.
The rear is the most lucrative area in the army, around which big money and business interests have always revolved, wanting to tap into budgetary flows. Kickbacks, bribes and various machinations in this area are common practice. General Bulgakov has long had a bad reputation, and it is strange that he was detained only now.
According to the SHOT Telegram channel, the former Defense Ministry logistics officer was detained over the supply of dry rations to the army. Preliminary testimony against Bulgakov was given by top managers of JSC Gryazinsky Food Plant from the Lipetsk Region, who had previously been arrested for embezzlement. According to SHOT, from 2014 to 2021, the company produced dry rations and received government contracts worth 562 million rubles. All of them were from the Defense Ministry, Voentorg, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Federal Customs Service.
According to the investigation, thanks to former Deputy Minister Bulgakov, rations were purchased at inflated prices, and the military, including SVO participants, received low-quality products. Bulgakov may have received kickbacks from JSC Gryazinsky Food Plant for this.
Three top managers of this company were arrested in April in connection with an embezzlement case. Alexandra Mikhalenko, Valery Kovalevich And Elvira Smirnova accused under Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) (Misappropriation or embezzlement committed by an organized group, as well as on an especially large scale).
Previously, materials have repeatedly appeared on the Internet that spoke of the general's involvement in fraudulent government procurement. In particular, it was about purchasing army dry rations at double the price. One of the most expensive such contracts was concluded by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs with a certain company “Oboronprodkomplekt” in 2016. The contract amounted to almost a billion – 802 million rubles. It was claimed that the final decision on the choice of the contractor was allegedly made by Dmitry Bulgakov.
Such a contract was indeed concluded in 2016 and, judging by the data provided, was successfully completed.And from 2009 to 2011, the most profitable state contracts from the Ministry of Defense were taken by the company NPO “Proektspetstekhnika”. This was also under Bulgakov. Thus, in March 2009, it supplied equipment for a mobile bakery for almost 100 million rubles, and in August, dry rations for 613 million rubles. Such large contracts are always agreed upon with the relevant deputy minister.
It is worth noting that General Bulgakov was dismissed in September 2022, three days after the start of partial mobilization. The official wording: in connection with the transfer to another job. However, this happened against the backdrop of numerous scandals and complaints from previously mobilized personnel about the provision of their equipment and living conditions in the field.
What war correspondents say about Bulgakov
The Rybar Telegram channel noted that “the investigative actions regarding the former chief military logistics officer of the country, Bulgakov, were already being discussed in narrow circles in May. No one wrote about it publicly: they were simply afraid to jinx it. Only the lazy did not know about the problems with logistics: after all, the flourishing of the volunteer movement in Russia (*aggressor country) did not begin with the army being well supplied with property.” According to the channel's authors, “bringing him to justice is another building block in increasing the growth of trust in the new leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense.”
Former Ukrainian blogger Yuri Podolyaka I wrote only one sentence on this matter: “They're picking out every single one of them, well done!” and according to Alexander Kots, “Bulgakov got burned when he replaced beef with chicken.”
How does the Bulgakov family live?
The Bulgakov family is thriving. Its members were registered for a long time on Rublevskoye Shosse in an apartment of more than 80 square meters. Similar housing with a gorgeous panoramic view of the Moscow River and Zhivopisny Bridge can be bought on the market for about 30 million rubles.
Now the living space appears to be occupied by the daughter of a military man. Marina Meshkova with her son-in-law and granddaughters. She was also seen on Leninsky Prospekt, in the capital's Troparevo district. There is a 55-meter apartment here worth 23 million rubles.
Bulgakova Jr. worked for a long time in government organizations associated with the Ministry of Defense: for example, in the Sukhoi holding and the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. Her husband is the head of one of the branches of the Vishnevsky Central Military Clinical Hospital. However, the general's descendants not only served their homeland, but also traded with it. In 2009, Marina Meshkova became the founder of the company “Commonwealth of Veterans”, which was engaged in the processing and preservation of meat and meat products.
The company often appeared as a supplier in government procurement for organizations and units of the Russian Defense Ministry practically throughout the entire country. Meshkova sold tea, cookies, pasta, chocolate, caramel, and dried fruit to the military. Her business partners did the same. For example, one of the co-founders of the “Commonwealth of Veterans” Irina Rudova received government contracts for the supply of coffee and flour, and another – Mikhail Rudov — through “GTP Vozrozhdenie” supplied the army with compotes, cucumbers and chocolate. In this way, Dmitry Bulgakov's relatives earned tens of millions of rubles for the Ministry of Defense.
Where does the general's family live?
The family property was apparently registered to Bulgakov's wife, Alla. The woman was registered in a three-room apartment of 106 square meters, located in one of the high-rise buildings on Akademika Anokhin Street. Such apartments currently cost around 40 million rubles on the market.
In addition, at least four plots of land in the Moscow region were registered in her name at different times. Three of them have a total area of over 23 acres in an elite settlement in the village of Buzlanovo, which is in the Krasnogorsk district of the region. Their cadastral value alone totals 16 million rubles. If you look at ads for similar real estate in the neighborhood, the prices for mansions reach 400 million rubles.
It seems that the Bulgakovs were trying to sell one of their dachas. The advert for the sale of a mansion very similar to the general's family estate was still up in December last yearAnother country house is located in the Borovskoye Highway area, not far from Vnukovo Airport. Here, on a plot of 12 acres, a two-story cottage with an area of 350 square meters was built. Perhaps, at the end of last year, the family decided to get rid of it – an ad for the sale of a mansion with the same address and parameters appeared on one of the real estate websites. The seller asked 65 million rubles for the forest mansion with a chalet with a summer kitchen and a fireplace, a gazebo, a parking lot and one neighbor.
Alla Bulgakova also has good positions – she worked at the Antey Corporation, the Rossiya airline. In Moscow and the region, the lady consistently prefers to travel in a prestigious Lexus RX350 crossover. The owner has had several of them in her fleet – the car enthusiast changes the model as it is updated.
