Ex-official gets 12.5 years for cannabis in containers
A court in Yekaterinburg has sentenced former MinAPK department head Igor Krupsky and his accomplices. They had organized a drug laboratory in sea containers in the Beloyarsky district.
Jul 24, 2026 0
Former MinAPK official Igor Krupsky was arrested along with his accomplices in the cannabis operation.
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Former head of the department of agriculture and seed farming at the Ministry of Agro-Industrial Complex and Consumer Market of Sverdlovsk Oblast (MinAPK) Igor Krupsky has been sentenced to 12.5 years in a strict-regime penal colony. This verdict was handed down by a court in Yekaterinburg.
The shipping containers were converted into a hidden cannabis cultivation facility.
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The second defendant, entrepreneur Igor Sokolov, received 12 years in a strict-regime colony. The state prosecution had requested that exact punishment for both men.
Law enforcement detained Krupsky, his friend former firefighter Kamil Galimzyanov, businessman Sokolov, and fitness trainer Semen Zelinsky in late 2024. According to the investigation, the organized group had been growing cannabis for subsequent sale from 2023 until the moment of their arrest.
The containers with the plants were located in the yard of Galimzyanov«s house in the village of Kochnevskoye (Sverdlovsk Oblast). Investigators believe Krupsky was the scheme»s organizer: he purchased equipment and assigned roles. Galimzyanov tended the plants, processed them into the drug, packaged them, and sold them, after which he reported to Krupsky, the state prosecutor alleged.
The group members practiced secrecy: they avoided personal meetings and communicated only over encrypted channels. In total, they managed to grow more than 143 cannabis plants. Krupsky admitted guilt only for cultivation, while Sokolov disagreed with the charges.
«I admit that I stored substances for personal use that were found at my home,» Sokolov said in court.
In contrast, former firefighter Galimzyanov, who was charged with five counts related to cultivation and illicit drug trafficking, made a deal with the prosecution and fully confessed. The court sentenced him to 5.5 years in a general-regime penal colony. Fitness trainer Zelinsky went to the zone of the special military operation during the investigation stage.
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