{"id":13718,"date":"2026-05-01T14:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/13718\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T14:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:22:07","slug":"sacked-russian-deputy-minister-flees-to-u-s-amid-fraud-probe-sources-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/13718\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacked Russian Deputy Minister Flees to U.S. Amid Fraud Probe, Sources Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denis Butsayev, a high-ranking Russian official who was recently dismissed from the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, has reportedly fled to the United States to escape criminal prosecution, independent journalist Farida Rustamova reported<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin formally dismissed<\/a> Butsayev as deputy minister on April 22, government documents show.<\/p>\n

However, sources earlier told the newspaper Vedomosti that the sacked deputy minister had already slipped out of the country days earlier, traveling through neighboring Belarus.<\/p>\n

Two government sources told Rustamova that Butsayev departed on April 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cButsayev\u2019s departure is the first known case of a sitting official of this rank fleeing the country,\u201d Rustamova wrote, noting that he is also the first official since 2024 to successfully evade prosecution by going abroad.<\/p>\n

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The former deputy minister, who is not currently under Western sanctions, traveled via Minsk, Belarus, and Tbilisi, Georgia, before arriving in the United States, the two government sources told Rustamova.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Butsayev] is lucky to have friends who were able to warn him on time,\u201d one of the sources was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

The Moscow Times contacted the U.S. State Department for comment.<\/p>\n

Before joining the\u00a0Natural Resources and Environment Ministry in 2025, Butsayev served as CEO of the Russian Environmental Operator, a government-sponsored enterprise created in 2019 to manage the Kremlin\u2019s national waste management reforms.<\/p>\n

Both Vedomosti and Rustamova reported that Russian law enforcement authorities are investigating the company\u2019s administrative director and two other senior managers for fraud.<\/p>\n

Butsayev is reportedly a person of interest in that investigation, though it was not immediately clear if he faced any charges.<\/p>\n

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