Russia detains fourth top defense figure for bribery: Media

Russia has detained the deputy head of the army’s general staff, Lieutenant-General Vadim Shamarin, on suspicion of large-scale bribe-taking, Russian media reported on Thursday.

It is the fourth arrest of a high-ranking defense figure in the space of a month, starting on April 23 when Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was placed in pre-trial detention for suspected bribe-taking.

Since then, Lieutenant-General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of personnel at the defense ministry, and Major-General Ivan Popov, former commander of Russia’s 58th army, have also been arrested.

The arrests signal a major effort to stamp out corruption surrounding the awarding of lucrative military contracts.