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Deputy director of Russia’s Defense Ministry ‘Patriot’ park arrested on bribery charges

Source: Kommersant

A court has sanctioned the arrest of Vitaly Melimuk, deputy general director of the Defense Ministry’s Patriot park, on charges of accepting an 18-million-ruble bribe, the Russian Investigative Committee’s press service announced. Melimuk serves as the park’s deputy general director for operations and logistics.

In December 2025, a contract worth more than 1.4 billion rubles was signed with Germes LLC for comprehensive engineering, technical, and sanitary maintenance of the Patriot park’s buildings, structures, premises, and surrounding grounds in the Moscow Region, as well as its branch in Kronstadt, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported.

In April 2026, investigators said, Melimuk accepted an 18-million-ruble bribe from the general director of Germes in exchange for general patronage, assistance in securing contracts, and ensuring unimpeded work under them.

In August 2024, Vyacheslav Akhmedov, who at the time served as general director of the Patriot park, was detained. He was accused of embezzling more than 25 million rubles in connection with construction work at the park. Also charged in the case alongside Akhmedov were former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov and former deputy head of the ministry’s Main Directorate for Innovative Development, Vladimir Shesterov. Akhmedov was sentenced in 2025 to five years in prison; Shesterov received six years and a fine of 500,000 rubles. Popov’s verdict was handed down in April 2026. A court sentenced the former deputy defense minister to 19 years in prison. Both Popov and Shesterov were stripped of their military ranks and state awards.

Patriot is a military-patriotic park run by the Defense Ministry, located near the city of Kubinka in the Odintsovo District of the Moscow Region. The park was founded in 2014. One of its most prominent features is the main cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, which opened in 2020.

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