Rustyam Abushaev, head of a small town of Bolshoy Kamen located in Russia’s Far East who is placed on the federal wanted list, has published a video online to announce that he is currently in Ukraine fighting the Kremlin’s war.
“Dear friends! I am currently in the special military operation zone. I made the decision to come here long ago but felt the acute need to do so when I was taking part in the events organised for families of draftees,” he said.
RIA Novosti reports, citing the town administration, that Abushaev never resigned but is on leave. The regional office of the Investigative Committee noted that he is still on the wanted list.
Abushaev was arrested in absentia in March for fraud schemes involving land plots in a Vladivostok suburb and unlawful business operations.
The investigation team believes that Abushaev and two more persons of interest in the case between June 2019 and July 2020 provided a disabled labour veteran with fictitious ownership of two land plots covering more than 3 hectares on the De-Friz Peninsula and in the Kluchevoy village. The prosecutor’s office estimated their market value at 54 million rubles (€605,000). Then the land was re-registered to third parties and divided into 22 plots, which the defendants in the criminal case “used at their discretion”.