Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, the deputy chief of the General Staff, is reportedly suspected of taking a bribe
The Russian authorities have arrested Vadim Shamarin, the head of the country’s Main Directorate of Communications, for alleged involvement in a bribery case, officials have told Russian media. Shamarin, who is also the deputy to the chief of the General Staff, is the fourth senior Russian defense official said to have been arrested in criminal cases in April and May.
An official with the 235th Garrison Military Court said on Thursday, as quoted by several Russian media outlets, that Lieutenant General Shamarin is suspected of receiving an especially large bribe. If found guilty, the official faces up to 15 years in prison.
The 53-year-old general has served as the head of Russia’s Main Directorate of Communications since 2021. He is also a deputy to the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov.
The court official said, as quoted by RBK, that Shamarin was detained for two months on Wednesday. Kommersant reported, citing sources, that the Russian authorities had conducted a search as part of a bribery case, adding that the lieutenant general had been taken in for questioning to the Main Military Investigative Office of Russia’s Investigative Committee.
Shamarin is not the first defense official in this post to be implicated in a criminal case. His predecessor, Khalil Arslanov, was accused of large-scale fraud in 2020. According to TASS, at the time, the official was suspected of embezzling 6.7 billion rubles ($74 million). Kommersant reported in 2022 that Arslanov’s case would be heard behind closed doors due to its sensitivity.
The arrest of Shamarin follows a string of similar cases in recent weeks. In late April, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested as part of a corruption case. In May, similar allegations were made against the head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Defense Ministry, Yury Kuznetsov, and Ivan Popov, who once commanded the 58th Army in the Ukraine conflict.
May 23, 2024 at 01:05PM
RT