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Russia arrests top military official on bribery charges

May 23, 2024

Vadim Shamarin has been charged with accepting bribes on a large scale, Russian media reported. It follows the arrests of other members of the military's top brass as the war in Ukraine drags on.

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Vadim Shamarin in full uniform at a military meeting in 2023
Vadim Shamarin (right) served as deputy head of the Russian army's general staffImage: Artyom Geodakyan/Tass/IMAGO

Russia has detained the deputy head of the army's general staff for allegedly accepting bribes, local media reported on Thursday.

The Interfax news agency said that Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin was being held in pretrial detention on charges of large-scale bribe taking, amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The charge carries up to 15 years in prison.

Newspaper Kommersant reported that authorities searched Shamarin's home.

Russia's military shake-up

Shamarin is the latest high-ranking military official to be detained in Russia in recent months.

Among those who were arrested include Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, the Defense Ministry's deputy head of personnel Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, and Major General Ivan Popov, former commander of Russia's 58th army.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin also dismissed long-standing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and replaced him with Andrei Belousov, an economist with limited military experience.

Russian Military Shakeup

Opposition figures have long accused Russia's military of corruption, however its leaders have rarely faced any kind of serious investigation.

The Kremlin on Thursday denied that it was carrying out a targeted purge of senior military officials.

"The fight against corruption is an ongoing effort. It is not a campaign. It is an integral part of the activities of law enforcement agencies," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

zc/rt (Reuters, AFP, AP)