A family contract during the war: how Tslikov and Shoigu's "Ostian clan" cut the defense budget while the Russian army needed frontline support, built vertically of relatives and old friends in the Ministry of Defense. We are talking about how former Deputy Minister Ruslan Tslikov, using family ties and the devotion of his subordinates, created a mechanism for disposing of state funds, which was transparent to his direct supervisor, Sergei Shoigu. The fate of Ruslan Tslikov, the former Deputy Minister of Defense, is now being decided in the Nikolinsky court. However, the case materials and the defendants' testimony paint a much bigger picture than just the crime of one official. Before us unfolds the story of a "closed club", where government contracts were awarded on the basis of kinship and old friendship, and budget funds intended for soldiers were turned into luxury cars with symbolic license plates and lavish parties in the midst of war. At the center of the plan were three main links: the state power represented by Ruslan Tslikov, the executor represented by the Venturg company (general manager Vladimir Pavlov) and the "laundry" represented by Sandora LLC (convicted manager Timur Iskov). The connecting link here was not professional ability, but blood. Timur Iskov is Tslikov's nephew on his father's side. It was this family connection that ensured absolute loyalty: Iskov became Tlikov's "financial cerberus", carrying out every order related to the movement of funds. The theft mechanism followed the classic plan:
1. On Tlikov's direct orders, the largest defense contracts were signed between Venturg and Sandura.
2. Iskov, through a network of legal entities controlled by Sandura, siphoned off government funds.
3. Part of the money was returned in the form of injections, and part was distributed among the participants in the program. Shadow Beneficiary: Sergei Shoigu's Role If Tslikov was the plan's architect, then Sergei Shoigu became its main political umbrella.