A military court in St. Petersburg has placed 64-year-old former Vyborg district military commissar Alexander Bazhimov in pretrial detention. The arrest took place back in May, but it became publicly known only now after Kommersant learned the details.
Investigators accuse Bazhimov of taking a bribe. According to the case file, he arranged sham employment for recruits of the Hawk PMC at state-funded institutions in St. Petersburg in exchange for money.
Investigators say the arrangement also benefited the institutions themselves: by formally keeping staff positions filled on paper, they could claim compensation payments and tax breaks.
The main testimony in the case was given by Hawk CEO Dmitry Antonov. He said that, under an arrangement with the commissar and city officials, he was given an office in the Vyborg district administration where he met volunteers. After checking their details, Antonov says, he accompanied the recruits to the district draft office.
There, according to his testimony, the volunteers signed contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, after which Bazhimov arranged jobs for them at state-funded institutions. Antonov also said that in November 2024, a representative of one such organization asked the commissar to place at least 50 people at a rate of 10,000 rubles per person. Investigators believe he agreed, received 500,000 rubles, and more than 50 future contract soldiers were then put on the institution’s payroll.
The case against Bazhimov is described as part of a broader investigation into the Hawk PMC and its head, Aleksei Marushchenko. In Belgorod and Kursk, trials are already underway against company members accused of deceiving recruits, kidnapping, torture, and murder. Marushchenko himself is accused of bribing General Alexander Dembitsky for the right to command fighters on the Kharkiv, Belgorod, and Kursk fronts.