Mayor of Novocherkassk detained in bribery case
Investigators suspect Yuri Lysenko, the head of the Novocherkassk administration, of receiving a large-amount bribe from a developer. Yuri Lysenko has been caught red-handed, a source in the law enforcement bodies claims.
Late in the evening on May 13, the Investigating Department for the Rostov Region of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) released an official report concerning the criminal case instituted against the head of the Novocherkassk administration.
According to the ICRF’s information, the head of the Novocherkassk administration has been suspected of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale, and one of his subordinates has been suspected of acting as an intermediary in the transfer of the bribe.
In 2024, according to the investigators’ version, the head of the Novocherkassk administration received the bribe from the developer “in the form of a land plot and services for the construction of a residential building on it for a total amount of more than 8 million roubles,” the investigators reported in the entry posed on the ICRF’s official page in the “VKontakte” social networking service.
The agreement between the head of the Novocherkassk administration and the developer assumed that in exchange, the official would organize the construction of a school at the expense of the budget on the territory being developed by the entrepreneur and include the facility in the programme for the integrated development of the territories of the Rostov Region.
Sources in the law enforcement bodies reported about the detention of Yuri Lysenko even before the official announcement, earlier in the evening of May 13. The Rostov Region government confirmed the information on the official’s detention, stating that it was “providing the necessary assistance to the investigative bodies,” the “Kommersant” reported.
One of the sources in the law enforcement bodies claimed that Yuri Lysenko had been under surveillance for a long time. “He extorted a bribe of 20 million roubles. The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation is currently conducting searches at his place of residence. Searches have already been conducted at his working place. Law enforcers have been watching Yuri Lysenko for a long time. There were earlier interrogations regarding land fraud. Yuri Lysenko has been detained pending trial, which will choose a pre-trial restriction measure for the head of the Novocherkassk administration,” the “161.ru” publication quoted the source in the law enforcement bodies as saying.
Yuri Lysenko headed the Novocherkassk administration in 2020.
In October 2019, Igor Zyuzin, a Yuri Lysenko’s predecessor, was arrested in a bribery case and sentenced to a fine of three million roubles. In April 2023, the Rostov Regional Court cancelled the first instance court’s decision and sentenced Igor Zyuzin to eight years in a high-security penal colony.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 14, 2025 at 01:49 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.