Varentsov Mikhail Aleksandrovich

Varentsov Mikhail Aleksandrovich

Biography

2025: Arrest in a large-scale fraud case

On April 22, 2025, the 235th Garrison Military Court sent the head of the digital development department information protection National Guard of the Russian Federation and Major General Mikhail Varentsov to the pre-trial detention center. He is a defendant in a criminal case on fraud on an especially large scale.

Varentsov was arrested by the court at the request of the investigation. According to TASS, earlier in the same case, the head of the main center of information technologies of the Russian Guard Nikolai Chepkasov was arrested . This unit is engaged in the information and telecommunication infrastructure of the Russian Guard, automation of the provision of public services, the organization of interdepartmental electronic interaction, information security, as well as import substitution in the field of software.

The court sent General Varentsov to the pre-trial detention center for the duration of the preliminary investigation, informed sources in law enforcement agencies told TASS.

A criminal case was initiated Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale. Such acts are punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years with a fine of up to 1 million rubles or in the amount of the convict's salary or other income for a period of up to three years or without it and with restriction of freedom for up to two years or without it.

The website of the Russian Guard says that in 2021 Varentsov served as head of the information technology department of the Main Communications Department of the Russian Guard. The department does not give official comments on the arrest on April 22, 2025.^[1]

Notes