Kirov Region Governor Nikita Belykh has been charged with accepting a bribe on an especially large scale (Part 6, Article 290 of the Criminal Code of Russia). This was reported by the official representative of the Investigative Committee of Russia (SKR) Vladimir Markin. His words on Saturday, June 25, are cited on the agency's website.

Investigators believe that the governor of the Kirov region personally and through an intermediary received a bribe in the amount of 400,000 euros (24.1 million rubles) "for performing actions in favor of the bribe giver" and the firms "Novovyatsky Ski Combine" and "Forestry Management Company" controlled by him, as well as "for general patronage and connivance in service" in the implementation by the regional government of control over the implementation of investment projects by enterprises and the conduct of business activities in the Kirov region.

"Investigative actions in the criminal case are currently ongoing," Markin said. "Searches have already been conducted in the Kirov Region administration, and investigators will soon apply to the court with a petition to choose a preventive measure in the form of detention for Belykh," he noted.

On Friday, June 24, it became known that Belykh was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe in one of the restaurants of the Lotte Plaza shopping center in central Moscow. This was reported by a source of Interfax. The agency's interlocutor also said that Belykh initially denied his guilt, but then the operatives showed him traces of banknotes marked with a special solution, the source added.

On the same day, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation published photographs in which Belykh is depicted sitting at a large table covered with a white tablecloth on which 100-euro bills are laid out. At the same time, Belykh is writing something on several sheets of A4 paper. In another photo, a law enforcement officer shines a light on Belykh's hands, on which traces of bills marked with a special compound are visible.

The governor of the Kirov region was detained while receiving the second tranche of a bribe, Interfax wrote, citing its own source in law enforcement agencies. "Belykh is suspected of extorting a bribe, the first part of which was previously transferred to him through an intermediary, and he was detained while receiving the second tranche," the agency's source said.

"Anticipating the hysteria that supporters and comrades raise in such cases, I would like to immediately cool the ardor: corruption crimes do not have a political coloring. I think that citizens [Governor of Sakhalin Oblast from 2007 to 2015] Khoroshavin and [Head of Komi from 2010 to 2015] Gaizer can confirm this," Markin said earlier.

Governor Belykh charged with bribery