MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) – Investigators have opened a criminal case against two officers in Russia’s far east who allegedly overstated the value of their soldiers’ food rations by more than $200,000 in order to embezzle funds, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a press release on Tuesday.

According to investigators, Col. Sergei Ustinov and Major Ovik Babayan, both part of a military detachment in the Khabarovsk Region, approved last January the services of food company MTC, contracted by the state to provide food for military personnel.

Investigators alledge the unit’s daily nutritional needs were overstated by about $1,000. When added up, investigators added, it cost the state about $200,000.

The two officers face a possible ten-year prison sentence if convicted of abuse of authority.