MOSCOW, September 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny court ruled on Wednesday to release Vladislav Baumgertner, the former CEO of Russian fertilizer firm Uralkali, on a 15 million ruble ($391,000) bail.

“On September 1, the court upheld a motion to change a restriction measure for Baumgertner for a 15 million ruble bail,” court spokesperson Anna Fadeyeva told ITAR-TASS.

The Uralkali Case

Baumgertner, charged with abuse of office, was detained in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, last August and extradited to Russia in November. He was initially held in a pre-trial detention ward but Basmanny court later ruled to place him under house arrest.

Though Baumgertner was detained and subjected to the investigation, he remained Uralkali chief executive until December 23, when the company’s board of directors replaced him with Dmitry Osipov, a former deputy chairman of fertilizer producer Uralchem.

The criminal case against Baumgertner, Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, Uralkali's largest shareholder, and four other Uralkali executives, accused of abuse of power, was handed over to Russian prosecutors in September 2014.

Belarus claimed Uralkali criminal schemes have cost the country $100 million.