Deputy chief of Russian military’s general staff arrested on bribery charges

Russian media reports on Thursday say a deputy chief of the Russian military's general staff has been arrested on charges of large-scale bribery.

Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin is one of four high-ranking military officials arrested for bribery in the last month.

Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was put into pretrial detention for suspected bribe-taking on April 23.

Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the Defense Ministry's personnel department, and Major General Ivan Popov, former commander of Russia’s 58th army, also face similar charges.

Reports say Shamarin's home was searched in an investigation. He will be detained for two months. It is not clear how he will plead.

Since 2020, Shamarin has overseen the army’s Signal Corps, which tackles military communications.

The Kremlin did not disclose details about the case. It said anti-corruption work was being implemented across numerous state agencies.

“The fight against corruption is consistent work," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a Thursday press conference. "This is not a campaign. It is constantly ongoing work. This is an integral part of the activities of our law enforcement agencies.”

Vladimir Telayev, deputy head of the federal prison service for the Moscow region, was also arrested Thursday on charges of large-scale bribery, according to local reports.

Investigators asked a Moscow court on Thursday to place Telayev in pretrial detention.