General Shamarin removed from post of Deputy Chief of General Staff

Lawyer Igor Dyukin explained that the general accused in the case of a bribe from the management of the Telta plant in the amount of 36 million rubles was removed from his post back in May, but was not fired.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Chief of the Main Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, accused of accepting a bribe, has been removed from his post, RIA Novosti reports, citing lawyer Igor Dyukin.

“Vadim Shamarin was removed from his post as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces back in May, but was not fired; he was removed from the staff,” Dyukin said.

According to the defense attorney, in May the court also seized the general's Mercedes, which was purchased on credit, and his salary card was blocked. According to the agency, the Mercedes-Benz GLE was purchased by the defendant's wife, Elizaveta Shamarina, in November 2022.

According to the Investigative Committee, Shamarin received more than 36 million rubles from the CEO of the Perm telephone plant Telta, Aleksey Vysokov, and chief accountant Elena Grishina “for increasing the volume of products supplied under government contracts for the needs of the Russian Ministry of Defense and general patronage.” All three have been arrested.

The Deputy Chief of the General Staff has been under arrest since May of this year. Vysokov and Grishina were taken into custody in August last year in connection with a fraud case. The Kommersant newspaper wrote that the basis for Shamarin's arrest was the FSB's data that he had gained access to the case materials against Vysokov and Grishina and "instructed" witnesses, trying to obstruct the investigation. In addition, according to the Investigative Committee, he has "extensive connections in the military command bodies of the Ministry of Defense, as well as law enforcement agencies and other government bodies in Moscow." According to the publication, the CEO and chief accountant of Telta testified against the general.

Shamarin denies his guilt, but cooperates with the investigation. In June, the Ministry of Defense filed a lawsuit for 38 million rubles against the Telta plant.