A Moscow court late on July 17 sent Aleksandr Kibovsky, a former member of the Moscow municipal government, to pretrial detention for at least two months on charges of fraud and bribe-taking. Investigators allege Kibovsky accepted more than 100 million rubles ($1.1 million) in bribes while serving as the chief of Moscow's Culture Department between 2015 and 2023. Kibovsky pleaded not guilty and asked to be spared pretrial detention, saying he did not plan to flee and that he is willing to join Russian military forces invading Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
