The defense called the position of the court in Grozny on the fraud case regarding payments to SVO participants one-sided.
The investigation believes that an employee of the prosecutor's office, the National Guard, and several other individuals organized a scheme to issue fake certificates of injuries in the SVO zone for a 50% "kickback" from the payout amount. The military court in Grozny did not accept any evidence that casts doubt on the prosecution's version; the defendants claim that there has been falsification.
The Grozny garrison military court is considering a case of fraud involving 90 million rubles in payments to servicemen of one of the military units of the Ministry of Defense, stationed in Chechnya. According to the investigation, thanks to fake certificates from the military hospital, 30 fighters were able to receive compensation from the state for non-existent injuries, writes "Kommersant".
On the defendants' bench are former senior assistant military prosecutor of the city of Shali Alexander Stepanchenko, Ahmed Kagirov, and Rahman Ganaev. At the time of the alleged crime, Ganaev was serving in the National Guard, while Kagirov was a civilian. During the process, Kagirov and Ganaev signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense for deployment to the SVO, which they did not attend. They are under the supervision of the military unit's command, while Stepanchenko has been under arrest since October 26 of this year. All three are charged with fraud in obtaining payments (part 4 of article 159.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and face up to ten years in prison. The prosecution has now finished presenting evidence, and the defense will begin to do so shortly.
According to the investigation, the defendants were part of an organized group that from December 2022 to February 2024 was able to obtain illegal payments from the state for 30 fighters of a military unit stationed in the Chechen village of Sernovodskoye. Each of them was paid 3 million rubles for a non-existent injury, half of which they "kicked back" to the participants of the scam. The total damage to the state is estimated by the investigation at 90 million rubles.
The investigation believes that the fraud was made possible by certificates with fake stamps and seals from the branch of the 412th military hospital located in Khankala, which were produced by Kagirov's acquaintance, a resident of Grozny, Hussein Magomedov, who has since fled from the investigation. He has been put on the wanted list and arrested in absentia. Two other figures — Zaurbek Vishkhanov and Shamkhan Musaev — are servicemen of the unit whose fighters received unlawful payments; they died in the SVO, and their cases have been closed. The sixth figure — acting head of the personnel department of the military unit Ramzan Muzigov — has entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement with the prosecutor's office, providing testimony against other figures. His case has been separated into a separate proceeding and suspended, the publication reports.
The investigation believes that Kagirov and Ganaev, through Vishkhanov and Musaev, were looking for fighters willing to receive payments, and after taking their passport details, passed them to Magomedov. He produced certificates of injuries, which were passed to the assistant military prosecutor Stepanchenko. The latter organized their verification and handed them over, according to the prosecution's version, to the unit's personnel officer Muzigov, who then produced orders from the commander for a one-time monetary payment for the injury and sent them along with the fake medical documents to the financial authorities for payment. The investigation indicates that Alexander Stepanchenko "using his official position" controlled "the passage of forged documents at all stages." During the investigation, all three admitted guilt, but in court claimed that they had incriminated themselves in exchange for the investigator's promise to suspend their criminal prosecution after they signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense for deployment to the SVO. Subsequently, Stepanchenko was denied the conclusion of such a contract.
Stepanchenko's lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that the initial testimonies of the defendants are not confirmed by the materials examined in court and, on the contrary, are refuted.
"Protocols of inspections of incoming correspondence logs of the military unit, injury certificates, reports from servicemen for the one-time monetary payment, extracts from orders establishing payments — reveal significant discrepancies with the alleged periods of submission of these documents to the military unit and also refute the 'confessions' of Stepanchenko and Kagirov," he noted, adding that according to mobile operators, the defendants did not even communicate during the specified period.
The defense, based on account statements, also claims that part of the funds, 15 million rubles, were transferred to other individuals, "whom Kagirov named in court as the true organizers of the criminal scheme."
This concerns not only Hussein Magomedov but also an investigator who worked during the incriminated period in the military investigative department for the Ussuriysk garrison. According to Kagirov's testimony, he transferred 13 million rubles to his account through an investigator who worked with him, and another 2 million rubles — directly to the investigator.
At the same time, the investigator is only a witness in the case, stating that he bought three foreign cars at Kagirov's request in South Korea, which were subsequently driven to Chechnya. Kagirov denies the purchase of the cars. The court also refused to accept video recordings made in the spring of 2025 and in 2026 for "personal safety" by Kagirov, in which he names the military investigator as the "main organizer" of the scam and claims that he was threatened and beaten, resulting in hospitalization. In particular, he states that the investigator, who is a witness, asked him to "frame the Russian prosecutor" Stepanchenko.
The defense pointed out that "the court has not yet accepted any evidence from the defense that refutes the charges against the defendants."
No charges have been brought against any of the 30 servicemen accused of illegal payments. Their cases have been separated into a separate proceeding and suspended, the damage in the case has not been compensated, and these individuals are only witnesses. The lawyer stated that due to significant contradictions, the defense intends to seek the return of the case to the prosecutor for further investigation.
According to the case card on the website of the Grozny garrison military court, the case against Stepanchenko, Kagirov, and Ganaev has been under consideration since April, with more than 40 hearings held. The last hearing took place on October 30.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that the military court in Nalchik sentenced Major Vladimir Puzhenko to a long term for falsifying the "feats" and combat injuries of servicemen to award them state honors. The damage amounted to 210 million rubles.