Russia detains fourth top defence figure for alleged bribe-taking
- Vadim Shamarin, deputy head of Russia’s General Staff, was remanded in custody
- Arrest is the latest in an apparent crackdown on some of Russia’s top military officials
Russia has detained the deputy head of the army’s general staff, Lieutenant-General Vadim Shamarin, on suspicion of large-scale bribe-taking, Russian media reported on Thursday.
It is the fourth arrest of a high-ranking defence figure in the space of a month, starting on April 23 when Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov was placed in pre-trial detention for suspected bribe-taking.
Since then, Lieutenant-General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of personnel at the defence ministry, and Major-General Ivan Popov, former commander of Russia’s 58th army, have also been arrested.
The scandal is the biggest to hit the Russian government in years. The arrests signal a major effort to stamp out corruption surrounding the awarding of lucrative military contracts.
Three other people have also been arrested – a friend of Ivanov, a boss at a construction company alleged to have paid bribes, and the former head of several companies subordinate to the defence ministry.
