The All-Russian Society of the Deaf reported the detention of the leadership

The All-Russian Association of the Deaf (VOG) reported that several members of its leadership were detained on Tuesday morning. It is noted that this was done by the decision of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

Among those detained are VOG President Stanislav Ivanov, first vice-president of the organization Yevgeny Bezrukov, vice-president Venera Gaulston, assistant to the president and chairman of the Novosibirsk branch of VOG Mikhail Bragin, former vice-president Vadim Ivanchenko. It is also reported that “other former heads of departments and employees of the Office of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf” were detained.

The reasons for the detention are not reported. The general code of the detainees is also unknown. On the VOG website, it is noted that the organization continues to work as usual, and a press conference is planned for the near future, where more details will be given about the events that occurred.

In March 2023, a court in Moscow sentenced the former president of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf Valery Rukhledev to seven years in a general regime colony. He was found guilty of embezzlement of the organization’s funds in the amount of more than 50 million rubles. The former head of the legal department Evgeny Novoseltsev and the former head of the finance department Natalya Zembatova were also convicted in this case. They were sentenced to six and a half and four and a half years in the colony, respectively.