An appellate court judge in Moscow on Wednesday rejected a bid by former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov to be sent to fight in eastern Ukraine after he was jailed last year for corruption.
Ivanov, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison on embezzlement and money laundering charges, had sought to sign a military contract — a common path for Russian convicts to secure an early release in exchange for combat duty.
After a lower district court blocked his initial request, Ivanov appealed the decision last month.
The Moscow City Court upheld the lower court’s ruling, agreeing with the Defense Ministry and the military enlistment office’s decision to deny the deployment.
Ivanov did not attend the hearing, according to the news outlet Ostorozhno Novosti.
The newspaper Kommersant reported that Ivanov made two separate requests to get to the front: first asking to serve with his rank of major, and later stating he was willing to deploy in any rank or role.
Ivanov had managed the Defense Ministry’s lucrative construction projects from 2016 until his arrest in April 2024.
His high-profile arrest and trial marked the start of a sweeping corruption purge within the military command that saw several other senior officers sent to prison.
Ivanov was widely seen as a close ally of former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was ousted in May 2024 and appointed secretary of Russia’s Security Council.
