Rosselkhoznadzor Chief Detained in Vladivostok Bribery Case

Dmitry Zdanovich, head of the interregional department of Rosselkhoznadzor, has been sent to a pretrial detention center in Vladivostok. He is a suspect in a bribery case and will remain in custody for two months pending the investigation, according to the prosecutor«s office»s Telegram channel.

According to investigators, in October 2020, certain heads of a commercial organization agreed to pay bribes to several heads of the interregional Rosselkhoznadzor department. In return, the officials were to ensure the unimpeded issuance of phytosanitary certificates for exported shipments of plant products.

The total bribe amount was 1.8 million rubles (about $20,000 at current rates). A criminal case was opened under articles of the Russian Criminal Code on «Receiving a bribe on an especially large scale» and «Giving a bribe on an especially large scale». The bribe-giver is also in pretrial detention; he was sent there a few days earlier.

Zdanovich was detained on February 3. Operatives raided the Primorsky interregional department of Rosselkhoznadzor with searches. According to a source for VLADIVOSTOK1.RU, that «mask-show» (raid with masked operatives) episode may be a continuation of a systematic check of the agency«s work in the framework of the corruption case.

The Primorsky interregional department of Rosselkhoznadzor was previously at the center of a major corruption scandal involving former head Yuliy Ivanov, several of his subordinates, and businessmen linked to them. That case involved multimillion-ruble bribes for patronage of businesses.

It is known that Ivanov managed to avoid criminal liability — he signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense to participate in the special military operation and subsequently received a state award. Meanwhile, other participants in the corruption scheme were convicted in 2025 and sentenced to long prison terms.

No other details of the investigative actions are available yet. Official comments from law enforcement agencies and the agency itself have not been received.