Russian former deputy minister 'stole' a 3-bedroom apartment in Moscow with false documents, investigators say

• Pavel Baryshev, a deputy minister in the Russian government, is under investigation for "large-scale fraud."
• Baryshev is accused of using forged documents to acquire a three-bedroom apartment in Moscow.
• Investigators said the property was worth about $223,000, and he faces up to 10 years in prison.

A former deputy minister in Russia is being investigated on suspicion of forging documents to secure a three-bedroom apartment in Moscow, the country's federal investigative committee said.

Pavel Baryshev, who was deputy minister for natural resources, is accused of "fraud on an especially large scale," the Investigative Committee said in a Telegram post on Thursday.

Investigators said Baryshev, 65, produced the forged documents about his rights to housing from 2017 to 2019.

Using those documents, he "stole" a three-bedroom apartment in the Moscow area worth about 20 million rubles, or $223,000, investigators said.

The committee did not say if Baryshev was detained, but the potential charge against him carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The accusations include the years just after Baryshev was made deputy minister for civil defense in 2017. He held this post until 2021, when Russian leader Vladimir Putin dismissed him.

After his dismissal, Baryshev was made deputy minister for natural resources in March 2023 but was then removed from office on June 19, 2024, with the Russian government citing his retirement.

His criminal case also comes as Russia recently announced investigations and arrests against several former high-level officials on allegations of fraud, bribery, and other forms of corruption.

Many of them are believed to have worked under Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu , who was previously the minister for defense from 2012 to early 2024 and the minister for civil defense from 1991 to 2012.

Shoigu was replaced as defense minister in May amid the Ukraine war, as he was largely blamed by the Russian public for perceived failures and losses.

The Russian government has neither publicly blamed Shoigu nor acknowledged any common connection between him and the officials charged.