You're reading: Associated Press: Russian ex-minister on trial for bribery blames Putin ally

Breaking months of silence, the former Russian economic development minister on trial for allegedly accepting a $2 million bribe publicly accused the head of Russia’s oil company on August 16 of setting him up.

Alexei Ulyukayev, the highest-ranking Russian official to have been arrested since 1993, was detained last year at the headquarters of Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, after a sting operation set up by the FSB intelligence agency. The circumstances of the case have ignited speculation that Ulyukayev fell victim to a Kremlin power play by Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft and President Vladimir Putin’s close associate.

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