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Former chief executive of Russia’s main satellite manufacturer placed under house arrest on fraud charges

Source: Krasnoyarsk regional court system

A court in Krasnoyarsk has placed Nikolai Testoedov, the former chief executive of ISS Reshetnev, Russia’s main satellite manufacturer, under house arrest, the press service of Krasnoyarsk’s regional court system said.

The ruling was issued on April 9. Testoedov has been charged with large-scale fraud. A search was carried out at his home in late January, though at that point he was listed as a witness in the case, the Krasnoyarsk-based news outlet Ngs24.ru reported.

Around the same time, two ISS Reshetnev employees — a department head and a section head within the same department — were reported arrested on suspicion of fraud. The suspects acted as a group and stole more than 6.1 million rubles, according to investigators.

Testoedov is a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and one of Russia’s most authoritative experts in satellite technology, according to the independent science-focused outlet T-invariant.

Testoedov led ISS Reshetnev from 2008 to 2022. Under his leadership, the company developed and manufactured satellites for the GLONASS navigation system, the Express series of geostationary satellites, and communications and Earth remote-sensing spacecraft.

After leaving ISS Reshetnev, Testoedov became director of the Institute of Space Technologies at the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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