Deputy Russian military chief of staff jailed for bribery in latest arrest of high defense official

A deputy chief of the Russian military general staff has been arrested on charges of large-scale bribery, Russian news reports said on May 23, the latest in a series of bribery arrests of high-ranking military officials.

A deputy chief of the Russian military general staff has been arrested on charges of large-scale bribery, Russian news reports said on May 23, the latest in a series of bribery arrests of high-ranking military officials.

The arrest of Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin followed the arrest this week of Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a former top commander in Russia's offensive in Ukraine, also on bribery charges.

In April, Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested for bribery. Mr. Ivanov was a close associate of Sergei Shoigu, whom President Vladimir Putin dismissed as defence minister soon after Mr. Putin's inauguration to a new term in May.

Lt. Gen. Yury Kuznetsov, head of the defense ministry's personnel directorate, was arrested on bribery charges two days after Mr. Shoigu was replaced.

Mr. Shamarin is also the head of the defence ministry's main communications directorate. He is being held in custody for two months, Russian news agencies cited a military garrison court as saying, but other details of the case were not reported.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the wave of arrests of defense officials did not indicate a campaign against the military.

"The fight against corruption is consistent work. This is not a campaign, it is constantly ongoing work. This is an integral part of the activities of our law enforcement agencies,” he said Thursday in a conference call with journalists.