The Korolyov Court of the Moscow Region has sentenced the former Director General of RSC Energia (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation), Vladimir Solntsev, who, along with accomplices, stole 839 million rubles from the state corporation. He was sentenced to eight years in a general regime penal colony.
The court established that Solntsev and his accomplices inflated the purchase price of electronic component base, and they divided the difference among themselves.
Another defendant in the case later died, and the criminal case against another was separated into separate proceedings and suspended. The court also granted a civil claim for 839 million rubles.
RSC Energia was founded in 1946 by designer Sergei Korolev. The company developed the first ballistic missiles, as well as a family of space launch vehicles — Sputnik, Vostok, Voskhod, Luna, Molniya, and Soyuz.
RSC Energia also created the first artificial Earth satellite, the first automatic interplanetary stations that reached the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and the first spacecraft Vostok and Voskhod.
