Russia’s FSB security service has arrested the health minister of the southern Krasnodar region on suspicion of fraud, the state-run news agency TASS reported Tuesday.
Yevgeny Filippov, who has served as Krasnodar’s health minister since 2013, is allegedly accused of using his post to illegally enrich himself and his family. The charges he is said to face carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Law enforcement authorities have not publicly commented on the report.
Filippov’s reported arrest comes after a number of high-ranking officials in the Krasnodar region have faced criminal prosecution over the past year, including former deputy governors Alexander Vlasov and Alexander Kainov, suggesting a pattern of intensified pressure on regional elites.
Filippov, a trained obstetrician-gynecologist, made two posts on his public Telegram page on Tuesday morning before FSB agents were said to have arrested him.
TASS cited sources as saying that Filippov and family were found to own 57 properties valued at 1 billion rubles ($12.1 million) in five cities across the Krasnodar region, including in the resort city of Sochi.
The news agency provided a detailed list of the types of properties, including 21 apartments and 11 non-residential properties, but did not disclose the allegations against Filippov.
The Kommersant business newspaper, citing an anonymous source, reported that Filippov’s case may be linked to the January detention of former Krasnodar region Deputy Governor Anna Minkova, who was placed under house arrest on embezzlement charges.
Authorities had carried out searches in Filippov’s office as part of an investigation into Minkova.
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