Deputy General Director Of Roscosmos, Overseeing Putin's Latest Rockets, Taken Into Custody

What is he accused of?

Deputy General Director of the Russian state corporation Roscosmos Oleg Frolov was arrested on charges of embezzlement during the purchase of equipment.

As the Telegram channel of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) reported, two entrepreneurs were sent into custody along with him.

According to the Investigative Committee, each of the defendants in the criminal case has been charged with fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

“According to the investigation, Frolov, using his official position, entered into a criminal conspiracy with two other accomplices in the crime. During the execution of the contract, they stole budget funds for the purchase of equipment in the amount of at least 435 million rubles,” the report says.

In his position, Frolov, who previously served in the space forces, was in charge of the state weapons program of Roscosmos.

As part of this program, the state corporation is developing and producing Russia’s latest weapons — missiles, cruise missiles and drones, which President Vladimir Putin announced in 2018 as a “response to US actions”.

One of the examples of this weapon is the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, which should replace the Voevoda missiles. Sarmat was designed and produced at enterprises owned by Roscosmos — the State Rocket Center named after V.P. Makeev and the Krasmash plant.

Roscosmos developments are also going to be used for other weapons announced by Putin. In 2018, Russia’s president said that Russia had hypersonic weapons — the Avangard and Kinzhal complexes, as well as the Zircon anti-ship missile.