Five down – how many more to go? As more and more senior Russian officers and defence officials are arrested on corruption charges, the rumour mill is in full spin as it cranks out claims that this is everything from a purge of potential coup plotters to a Federal Security Service (FSB) takeover of the military. The truth is likely to be at once more prosaic and also more significant.
Tackling corruption within the top brass is a Herculean task
Before defence minister Sergei Shoigu was given his sideways move to become secretary of the security council, deputy minister Timur Ivanov had already been arrested. He was followed in quick succession by Lt. Gen. Yury Kuznetsov, head of the ministry’s personnel directorate, the former head of the 58th Army Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin, head of the main communications directorate, and most recently (as of writing: watch this space!) Vladimir Verteletsky, a senior procurement officer.
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