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Senior Russian military official arrested on bribery charges

On May 22, the court chose two-month custody as a measure of restraint for Chief of the Russian Army’s Main Communications Department General Vadim Shamarin

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. Chief of the Russian Army’s Main Communications Department General Vadim Shamarin has been arrested on charges of large-scale bribe-taking, the 235th garrison military court that passed the arrest ruling told TASS on Thursday.

"On May 22, the court chose two-month custody as a measure of restraint for Shamarin. He is charged under part 6, article 290 of Russia’s Criminal Code ("Large-Scale Bribe-Taking"), a court spokeswoman said.

The court’s decision has not yet come into force and may be appealed against. This article of Russia’s Criminal Code carries a maximum punishment of 15 years behind bars with a penalty of one hundred times the size of the bribe. The criminal offence stipulates that the size of the bribe is at least 1 million rubles (about $11,090 at the current exchange rate).

Earlier, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov and Chief of the Defense Ministry’s Personnel Department Yury Kuzntesov were arrested on charges of large-scale bribery. Lawyers say their cases are unrelated to each other.

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