Ex-Russian basic jailed for seven years over bribes

A former high Russian basic has been jailed for seven years after being accused of taking bribes.

Lt Gen Vadim Shamarin was arrested final 12 months throughout a crackdown on corruption within the defence ministry launched by the Kremlin, and was accused of taking “a very giant bribe” from a telecommunications firm.

Russia’s Investigative Committee mentioned he took bribes value 36 million roubles (£331,000) between 2019 and 2023 from a manufacturing unit that produces communications tools – and, in return, elevated the dimensions of state contracts awarded to the corporate.

Previous to his arrest he had served as deputy chief of the military’s basic employees overseeing the alerts corps and army communications.

Russia’s Tass information company quoted Shamarin’s lawyer as saying: “In complete, Shamarin was sentenced to seven years in a most safety penal colony, a seven-year ban on public service, and was stripped of his army rank.”

The courtroom additionally confiscated 36 million roubles from him, the RIA Novosti information company reported.

Shamarin was amongst a number of senior defence ministry figures who had been detained final 12 months, which additionally included deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov and Lt Gen Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the defence ministry’s personnel directorate.

It got here after Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed his long-term Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in Might 2024.

He was changed by Andrei Belousov, an economist with little army expertise.

Specialists instructed that the corruption crackdown marked an try by the Kremlin to spice up effectivity within the Russian army.