The Krasnogorsk City Court in the Moscow region sentenced former head of the patriotic organization Kremlin, Leonid Karmanov, to six years in a general-regime penal colony in a fraud case. Kommersant reported the details. In addition to the prison term, the court imposed a 900,000 ruble fine.
Two other defendants were convicted alongside Karmanov: Edward Muradyan, a former aide to a Federation Council member and State Duma deputy, and lawyer Vyacheslav Pichuyev. Each received four and a half years in prison and a 530,000 ruble fine. The verdict was announced on June 18.
According to investigators, Karmanov and his associates offered people facing criminal charges a fake contract with the Defense Ministry that was supposedly meant to free them from liability. They allegedly claimed that anyone signing such a contract would serve in a “safe place” rather than in combat, while the money paid for the service would go to those actually stationed on the front line in their place.
Kommersant says one of the victims was a woman from the Rostov region whose husband had been accused of fraud. She first approached Pichuyev for legal advice, and he then connected her with the Kremlin organization. The woman transferred more than 6 million rubles to the lawyer’s account, but her husband was still sent to prison, where he spent two and a half years.
The meeting with the woman was attended by armed forces colonel Andrei Arefyev, Karmanov’s half-brother. To make the scheme look convincing, he was introduced as a general from the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, given a fake service ID, and provided with a specially tailored uniform. In April, the Odintsovo Garrison Military Court had already sentenced him to six years in prison and a 600,000 ruble fine.
Investigators said Arefyev persuaded the woman to transfer the money to the Kremlin foundation. The funds were formally presented as a donation for the needs of war participants, but Karmanov and the other defendants ultimately spent them at their own discretion. Another victim was a man hiding in Turkey while facing charges including extortion, fraud, and abuse of office. Through Arefyev, he transferred 10 million rubles to the organization, and the intermediary received 1 million rubles for his role.
The interregional public organization Kremlin was established in 2002 to unite graduates of the “Kremlin School” and to support service members killed or injured in the line of duty and their families. In recent years, it also took part in patriotic events, held classes about the exploits of Heroes of the USSR, and joined Immortal Regiment marches. A military-patriotic club for children also operates within the organization.