Russia detains another top general on bribery charges | BBC News

Russia detains another top general on bribery charges | BBC News

another Russian general has been arrested as what appears to be a Purge of the military continues Vadim shamaran the deputy chief of general staff has appeared in court accused of taking bribes uh the leftenant general is the fourth senior official to be arrested since April earlier this month President Putin appointed a new defense minister uh this was an economist Who was appointed in place of Sergey shyu who had been in post for 12 years the move was widely seen as an by the Kremlin to boost the Army’s efficiency and Tackle corruption the Kremlin spokesperson Dimitri pesov denied though that a purge was underway so let’s speak to our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg who joins us now from Moscow what do you think’s going on Steve H yeah a question we of often ask about Russia um you know when one senior um military official gets arrested that’s interesting but we’ve had four uh top uh defense figures arrested on fraud charges in the last month and that seems to be a pattern or to put it another way it seems to be a Purge um you know we today we saw um Vadim shamarin shash shamarin being arrested uh but amongst the other officials who’ve been arrested over the last few weeks um a deputy defense minister also the head of the Personnel Department directorate of the Russian defense Ministry so these are senior officials uh and as you mentioned Lucy what we’ve also seen recently was a reshuffle Vladimir Putin getting rid of uh his defense minister of 12 Years Sergey shyu moving him to another job and putting in his place an economist a technocrat Andre Bel USV someone that I think the Kremlin believes will make the Russian military more efficient uh and try to fight corruption there Dimitri pesov denies that a purge is underway Steve so what’s the official Kremlin response or reason for why this is happening yeah Mr pesov uh today denied there was any campaign I think that’s the word he used he said that the the fight against corruption is ongoing uh in Russia but there is a big irony I think about all of this uh and it has to do with yeni pan remember him the uh the Vagner Chief the head of the vagda paramilitary group uh last year Mr Pan um publicly criticized uh the Russian military leadership Sergey Shu the defense minister of the time the chief of the general staff Valeri gasimov he accused the Russian military leadership of Corruption of incompetence uh regarding the the war in Ukraine uh it was a very public spat and it ended with the Vagner Mutiny uh the the Vagner group uh mutinying and marching on Moscow Vladimir Putin uh sided with his military Chiefs and in the end Mr pan lost this battle with shyu and gasimov he lost his life two months later uh however one year later what we’re seeing is Vladimir Putin the Kremlin apparently taking measures against the Russian military leadership um despite what Mr pesov said this does appear to be uh some kind of purge going on there and that says something very important I think about Vladimir Putin um he doesn’t like being seen to act under pressure so if you tell him if you order him get rid of a minister get rid of a general that’s not going to happen but he acts um when he believes the time is right I think what we’re seeing now is the krin acting and the krin realizing that some measures have to be taken to make the military more efficient and to fight corruption so interesting Steve also always good to see you thanks for joining us our Russia editor there Steve Rosenberg and

Another senior defence official in the Russian military has been arrested after being accused of taking a large bribe, Russian media has reported.

General Vadim Shamarin, the deputy chief of General Staff, has appeared in court and he’s the fourth senior official to be arrested since April.

Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin removed Sergei Shoigu as his defence minister, and replaced him with the former deputy prime minister, Andrei Belousov.

It was a move seen as an attempt by the Kremlin to boost the army’s efficiency and tackle corruption.

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