“Investigators demand that the former mayor of Sochi, Alexei Kopajgorodsky, suspected of large-scale embezzlement, remain in custody,” TASS reported, adding that the case is now being handled by a Moscow court and that in the meantime, the criminal prosecution of the former deputy mayor of Sochi, Oleg Burlev, has also been initiated.
“The former official was accused of stealing a plot of land with a total area of seven hundred square meters and a value of 3.7 million rubles. His lawyer said that Kopajgorodsky transferred this land to the Children of Donbas charity fund,” the Mash channel wrote, adding that the investigation continues. The website speculated that the former mayor could be involved in other cases as well, for example in a more extensive case of money laundering, when the sum of 600 million rubles was supposed to be involved.
Alexei Kopajgorodsky in an archive picture
“Alexei Kopajgorodsky asked the court to return him to the special military operation (the Russian designation for the invasion of Ukraine – editor’s note) so that he could continue to serve and be with his wife, who is also in the special operation zone,” the website further noted with by referring to the statement of the arrested person’s lawyer.
Kopajgorodskij was at the head of the southern Russian resort town of Sochi with more than 440,000 inhabitants from September 2019 until May 14 this year, when he submitted his resignation to the regional governor, stating that he was going to work elsewhere. According to the Mash channel, he left almost immediately afterwards to join the war in Ukraine. His deployment near Luhansk was confirmed by the TASS agency in mid-September, with the fact that he signed a contract with the Russian army.
According to the Mash website, Kopajgorodskij and his family are among the rich, and during his political career he was known, among other things, for his expensive wardrobe. Now, however, he stood before the court in an ordinary military uniform.
