A senior official of Russian General Staff was arrested after being accused of corruption. On this occasion Vadim Shamarin He will be imprisoned for two months and, if found guilty, he is exposed to a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Shamarin is accused of having “accepted a particularly large bribe“. The arrest occurs in the middle of a high-profile restructuring of Moscow’s military leadership more than two years after his invasion of Ukraine, and days after President Vladimir Putin appointed a new defense minister.
The corruption complaint
Shamarin, who was deputy chief of the General Staff for communications, was arrested this Thursday by order of a military court. The Russian official is accused of having accepted a “particularly large bribe“in a sector, that of Defense, which is in the eye of the storm after various corruption scandals.
Initially, the Russian justice ordered Shamarin’s arrest for a period of two months, during which time the accused will be investigated. If found guilty, the official may face a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
Its about fourth arrest of a high-ranking Defense figure since April, when the vice minister Timur Ivanov He was remanded in custody on suspicion of also accepting bribes. Faced with accusations of persecution, the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov assured that “The fight against corruption is a continuous work, it is not a purge campaign“.
The Kremlin’s military restructuring
The scandals in the defense sector They continue to emerge in the midst of the war with Ukraine that began more than 2 years ago. Shamarin’s case adds to the recent arrests of Timur Ivanov, Yuri Kuznetsov and Ivan Poponov.
Ivanov was arrested and taken to preventive detention on April 24, in the middle of a investigation for allegedly receiving bribes. He deputy minister of defense He directed the military company Oboronstroy, in charge of the construction of public works for the Ministry and the reconstruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, occupied by Russian troops since May 2022.
For its part, Kuznetsov – who was director of the Personnel Office of the Ministry of Defense – was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe “especially big“, just a few days after the cessation of Sergei Shoiguwho headed the portfolio for twelve years. Svetlana Petrenkoof the Russian Investigative Committeeindicated that Kuznetsov would have received the bribe from “representatives of commercial structures” for “carry out actions in your favor“.
Finally, Poponov, general and former commander of the Russian 58th Army deployed in Ukraine – who was dismissed in July for having warned about difficulties on the battle front – was also arrested on May 17. The soldier is accused of ‘large scale fraud‘” and will be kept in provisional detention for a period of at least two months. If found guilty, Poponov could face sentence of 10 years in prison.
Amid the complaints and accusations, Putin continues with the restructuring of his Ministry of Defense. A few days ago, Sergei Shoigu, minister of said portfolio, was replaced by the economist Andrei Belousov. Putin justified the replacement by alleging the need to “optimize“ military spendingwhich exploded in the heat of the assault against Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
Source: Ambito
