May 23. () –
This Thursday, the Russian Justice Department ordered the arrest of two important officials in the Ministry of Defense for corruption and abuse of power, with five arrests of high-profile figures within the ministry since April.
This is Vladimir Verteletski, a senior official in charge of Ministry purchases, accused of abuse of power in the execution of a defense order. The investigation maintains that in 2022 he approved unfinished work that resulted in losses for the State of 70 million rubles (711,000 euros), reports TASS.
In turn, early this Thursday, Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, deputy chief of the Army Staff, was arrested for an alleged crime of corruption for having accepted a “large-scale bribe.” A military court has imposed two months of provisional prison on him and the seizure of all his assets.
From the Government, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov has highlighted that Shamarin’s arrest shows that the Russian authorities are committed to combating corruption. “It’s a constant struggle,” he said.
These two cases are added to those of three other senior officials of the Ministry of Defense in recent weeks. At the end of April, former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, considered one of the trusted men of the former head of the ministry, Sergei Shoigu, was arrested for having also received “large-scale bribes.”
Already in May, Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the personnel directorate of the Defense portfolio, was arrested first and a few days later it was the turn of the former Army commander, Major General Ivan Popov. Both for corruption.
These arrests within the Ministry of Defense occur at a time of restructuring in the portfolio itself, with the recent appointment of Andrei Belousov as the new head and in full offensive of the Russian forces, which in recent weeks have managed to take over areas of which were expelled by Ukrainian troops just over a year ago.
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