Former Yaroslavl Transport Minister Partially Admits Guilt

Former transport department head Tatyana Cheremnykh partially admitted guilt in a Moscow court. The criminal investigation into bribery has been ongoing since May 2023.

Jan 27, 2026

Tatyana Cheremnykh attends a court hearing on bribery charges.
Source:
Yaroslavl Regional Court / Vk.com

Tatyana Cheremnykh, who served as head of the transport department of Yaroslavl Region, partially admitted guilt in taking bribes at a hearing of the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow. This information was reported by the RIA Novosti agency on 20 January.

A schedule of court hearings in a corruption case involving the transport industry.
Source:
Courts of General Jurisdiction of the City of Moscow

«I partially admit guilt, I will outline my position in more detail later,» Cheremnykh stated during the court proceedings.

The court announced the charges, which include systematic bribe-taking for assisting in the conclusion of contracts in the passenger transportation sector, creating conditions for specific participants at auctions, and general patronage.

According to the prosecution, former director of LLC «Gruppa Movista» Alexander Sovetnikov organized fictitious employment of dummy individuals. The salaries of these employees were transferred to bank cards, access to which was available to the defendants in the case, including Tatyana Cheremnykh. The amount of such payments reached 1,680,000 rubles (about $18,700 at current rates).

Additionally, the investigation believes that Sovetnikov also handed over bribes personally or through intermediaries. The total amount of these payments was 2,420,000 rubles (about $26,900 at current rates).

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow has already held three hearings in this criminal case: on 29 and 30 December 2025, and on 20 January 2026. The next hearing is scheduled for 3 February.

Chronology of the Criminal Case

On 24 May 2023, in Yaroslavl, the then head of the regional transport department Tatyana Cheremnykh, the director of «Organizator Perevozok Yaroslavskoi Oblasti» Ilya Prokopyev, and his deputy Oleg Ivanovsky were detained on suspicion of taking bribes on an especially large scale.

Simultaneously, in Moscow, the general director of «Movista Regiony» Alexander Sovetnikov, accused of giving a bribe, was detained. He was brought to Yaroslavl on 26 May, after which all four suspects were placed in a pre-trial detention center.

In May 2024, the bribery case in the transport sector was transferred to the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in Moscow.