The ex-mayor of Belgorod is arrested for two months on charges of receiving a large bribe

"To choose a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of two months", - Judge Andrey Alexandrov announced the decision (quoted by RIA Novosti).

According to Ivanov's lawyer Elena Palymova, the former mayor is accused of taking a bribe with a car, the cost of which is estimated at almost 3 million rubles. In an interview with RIA Novosti, she said that the arrest was made at the airport when trying to cross the border.

"Moreover, Ivanov crossed the border with my consent, next week we were going to be in Belgorod", - Palymova said.

The accused himself at the trial explained the attempt to leave the country by looking for work. He noted that he had recently visited several CIS countries, but did not know about the investigative measures.

"I had a lot of meetings and interviews, seeing that there is no work yet, and we need to move on... The week before last I met with classmates, it was the city of Tashkent… I moved freely around the country and the CIS countries without suspecting that investigative measures were being taken against me", - Ivanov said.

According to the Belgorod edition of "Bel.ru", the defense provided the court with evidence of payment for the car, which was not previously known to the investigation. Palymova also announced her intention to defend the innocence of the defendant.

"We provided proof of payment for the car, about which the investigation knew nothing", - she said.

Alexander Ivanov headed the administration of Belgorod from December 2021 to October 2022. Prior to that, he was the CEO of the Belgorod Mortgage Corporation (BIC). As <Bel.ru> notes, the BIC reported violations found in the work of the corporation by the Control and Accounting Chamber. Operations were checked for the period from 2018 to 2022, and most of this time Ivanov was listed as the CEO of the organization.