Russia’s deputy chief of general staff arrested on bribery charges

Russia has arrested a general State media reported on corruption allegations on Thursday, making him the third high-ranking official to be charged with fraud in the past month.

A military court ordered Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin to be detained until the end of July, the state news agency TASS reported.citing the court.

“On May 22, the court ruled that Shamarin should be remanded in custody for two months.“A court official was cited by the agency.

The official added: Shamarin is accused of having accepted bribes “on a particularly large scale” when awarding government contracts. No further details were given.

Business newspaper Kommersant reported earlier Thursday that Shamarin, head of the Russian General Staff’s communications directorate, was accused of unspecified “schemes.”

He is the third active senior military officer to be arrested in what appears to be a raid on the Russian Defense Ministry last month.

Authorities said last week that Yuri Kuznetsov was the head of the Defense Ministry’s personnel directorate arrested for bribery.

Former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, an ally of former minister and current head of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu, was appointed most famous Military officer after his arrest last month on suspicion of bribery.

And a former commander who was fired after criticizing military leaders over the high casualty rate in Ukraine was arrested on Tuesday.

The arrests and change in leadership at the Russian Defense Ministry come as Russian forces have made their most significant battlefield advances in 18 months with a new major attack on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.

AFP contributed reporting.