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A former Russian deputy minister who fled the country in April has been charged with large-scale fraud, becoming the latest target in a widening dragnet aimed at senior officials and state-linked executives in Moscow.
Denis Butsaev, who had been tapped to oversee Russia’s waste-management reforms, is accused of embezzling funds from the Russian Ecological Operator, or REO, a state-backed company he led. Investigators have accused him of fraud "committed on an especially large scale," according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
Two of his former deputies at the company, Yekaterina Stepkina and Maxim Shcherbakov, have also been charged in connection with the alleged scheme. Russian media have not disclosed the exact total of the funds allegedly stolen.
The criminal charges follow a sudden and quiet exit by Butsaev. A government order published on April 22 stated that he had been relieved of his duties "at his own request." His name later surfaced on the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted-persons database under an unspecified criminal statute.
According to Faridaily, an independent Russian political newsletter, Butsaev left the country shortly after his resignation. He reportedly traveled through Minsk, Belarus, and Tbilisi, Georgia, before successfully reaching the United States by late April.
His current whereabouts and legal representation remain unclear, and Russian authorities have yet to publicly release a detailed indictment or court ruling.
The case against Butsaev unfolds against the backdrop of a broader crackdown within the Russian government. In recent months, a sweeping series of criminal investigations has ensnared numerous current and former senior government officials, as well as managers of prominent state-linked enterprises.
