Another High-Ranking Officer of the Russian Ministry of Defense Detained

The head of the Department of Defense Procurement, Vladimir Verteletski, has been detained on suspicion of accepting bribes, reports the Russian news outlet "Izvestia," citing a source from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. According to the source, he assisted a businessman in obtaining a state contract and received a house and a car as a bribe.

Earlier that day, it became known about the arrest of Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, head of the Main Communication Directorate of the Armed Forces and deputy chief of the General Staff. He is accused of receiving particularly large bribes. The 235th garrison military court has reported that the general is a defendant in a criminal case initiated under Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Receipt of a Particularly Large Bribe").

Prior to this, on May 21, the 235th garrison military court had detained the former commander of the 58th Army of the Russian Armed Forces, Ivan Popov, for two months on suspicion of fraud. According to Svetlana Petrenko, the official representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, Popov was involved in the theft of over 1,700 tons of metal rollers valued at over 130 million rubles, which the military-civilian administration of the Zaporizhia region had acquired for humanitarian assistance last year.

Furthermore, on May 14, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the personnel department of the Russian Ministry of Defense, on suspicions of receiving particularly large bribes. The court has chosen detention as a preventive measure. According to the investigation, Kuznetsov, as head of the 8th Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, received bribes from representatives of commercial structures in exchange for carrying out certain actions in their favor.

On April 23, Russian Vice Minister of Defense Timur Ivanov was also detained on suspicion of accepting bribes. He was arrested the following day and remains in custody until June 23. The former official is accused of ensuring protection for defense contractors in exchange for material benefits. As part of this case, Sergei Borodin, who had friendly relations with the former deputy minister, as well as Alexander Fomin, co-founder of OlimpCityStroy LLC, were also arrested.