ST. PETERSBURG, October 12 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – The Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced CEO of AS-Engineering company Andrey Panteleyev to 2 years in prison for embezzling over 223 million rubles ($3.4 million) allocated for construction of an air direction center in the Arctic region, the St. Petersburg courts’ press office told RAPSI on Thursday.

The defendant has pleaded guilty in full, the press service added.

According to case papers, Panteleyev has conspired with businessman Alexander Kuznetsov to embezzle the money belonging to the Main Engineering Directorate of the Federal Special Construction Agency of Russia (Spetsstroy) during the construction of the Defense Ministry’s facilities in the arctic zone.

Kuznetsov has received a 2-year suspended sentence.