Top Russian Generals Arrested, Investigated for 'Abuse of Power'

Russian law enforcement detained three top Russian generals, including an aide to the head of the country's interior ministry, on charges of abuse of power, officials said Wednesday.

Lieutenant-General Sergei Umnov, the assistant to the head of Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs, was detained alongside Major General Alexei Semyonov, head of St. Petersburg's traffic police, and Major General Ivan Abakumov, as the country's invasion of Ukraine rages on.

Between 2016 and 2020, the three top Russian generals allegedly misappropriated funds from the Program Assistance Fund for the St. Petersburg and Leningrad region's Main Department of Internal Affairs, and purchased property "for personal use," Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.

According to the state-run paper, at the request of the generals, money from the fund was spent on the purchase of real estate and cars, as well as the maintenance of freelance assistants.

Umnov, 57, served as chief of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region police from March 2012 to February 2019 and was later appointed aide to Interior Deputy Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since 2013, he has also been a lieutenant-general of the police.

If the three officials are found guilty, they face a prison sentence of up to 10 years, according to independent Russian and English-language news outlet The Moscow Times.

The Moscow Public Monitoring Commission told Russia's state-run news agency TASS that Umnov is currently being held in a detention center in Moscow, where he was placed after his arrest.

"Umnov was detained and taken to Moscow...He does not plead guilty," the commission told TASS.

Umnov "completely disagreed with what he is accused of, called it all stupidity and absurdity," Eva Merkacheva, a member of the commission, told Russia's Interfax news agency.

The homes and workplaces of the three men were searched on Tuesday by employees of Russia's Federal Security Service, and the Main Directorate for Internal Security of Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs, according to Kommersant.

The Investigative Committee of Russia, the country's leading federal investigating authority agency, opened a criminal case into Umnov, Semyonov, and Abakumov on allegations of grave abuse of power in July 2020. The investigation is currently ongoing and operational search activities are still being carried out, officials said Wednesday.

The committee has asked a court in Moscow to send Umnov, Semyonov, and Abakumov, to a pre-trial detention center for two months.

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.