Russia’s Former Economy Minister Sentenced to Eight Years in Jail

Alexei Ulyukaev

Never cross Vlad, even if you are a Minister of the Economy.

A court in Moscow has today sentenced Alexei Ulyukaev to eight years in jail after finding the former Russian minister of economic development guilty of graft.

Ulyukaev, who headed the economy ministry until his arrest in November 2016, has denied charges that he solicited and accepted a $2 million illegal payment from Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company, as a reward for giving ministerial approval for a controversial privatization deal.

But on today, Judge Larisa Semenov declared Uyukaev guilty, telling a court in Moscow that the ex-minister had “used the importance and authority of his position” to demand a bribe from Sechin.

Ulyukaev is the first serving Russian cabinet minister to be arrested since Josef Stalin’s time.

It is believed the charges were orchestrated by Sechin, a close associate of Vladimir Putin and a driving force in the Kremlin’s siloviki faction, a feared group with links to the security services.

-RW