Culling the command

Russia has arrested four generals in the past month. Here’s what we know about the Defense Ministry ‘purge.’

Russia arrested two more top Defense Ministry officials on May 23 in what appears to be a widening anti-corruption sweep. Four generals are now in pre-trial detention on felony charges, with three accused of taking multimillion-ruble bribes and the fourth suspected of large-scale fraud. The arrests have coincided with the ouster of longtime Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who lost his post earlier this month to Andrey Belousov, a former deputy prime minister who specializes in economics. Speaking to journalists on May 23, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov rebuffed questions about a “purge” of the Defense Ministry. Here’s what we know about the arrests so far.

Timur Ivanov

On April 23, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested on felony charges of accepting an “especially large bribe,” which investigators estimated at around 1.125 billion rubles ($12.4 million).

Ivanov isn’t a military man. He got his start in the fuel and energy sector and then, in 2012, spent several months serving as the chairman of the Moscow regional government under then-Governor Sergey Shoigu.

Ivanov was appointed deputy defense minister in 2016 and oversaw numerous major construction projects, including the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, Patriot Park theme park, the Vostochny Cosmodrome, and the “restoration” of occupied and war-torn Mariupol.

Following Ivanov’s arrest, his lawyer speculated that “films” about his client prompted the criminal case. In 2022, Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation released an investigation into Ivanov and his wife Svetlana, which revealed their lavish vacations in Europe (where they rented expensive villas and yachts) and their ownership of a mansion in central Moscow. In June 2022, Ivanov divorced Svetlana, and, as Navalny’s associates discovered, began dating Maria Kitayeva — a former advisor to Shoigu who was previously married to another Defense Ministry official.

Shoigu suspended Ivanov from his duties following his arrest. Citing two sources close to Russia’s Federal Security Service (the FSB), the independent news site iStories reported that Ivanov was charged with bribery to cover up a treason investigation. However, this version of events hasn’t been confirmed by other sources.

Two other individuals were arrested in connection with Ivanov’s case: Sergey Borodin, a friend whose company allegedly built Ivanov’s country house in Russia’s Tver region, and Alexander Fomin, the co-owner of the leading construction company working in occupied Mariupol.

On May 8, Ivanov appealed his pre-trial detention in court. His lawyers brought “four bags” of awards that Ivanov had received to the hearing, but the official still lost his appeal to be placed under house arrest. Ivanov has denied the bribery charges against him.

Yuri Kuznetsov

Three weeks after Ivanov’s arrest, on May 13, another Defense Ministry official was arrested on the same charges of large-scale bribery: the head of the ministry’s Main Personnel Directorate, Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov.

Investigators alleged that during his tenure from 2021–2023 as head of the 8th Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Kuznetsov “accepted a bribe from representatives of commercial structures for performing certain actions on their behalf.” During a raid of Kuznetsov’s home in the Moscow region, law enforcement reportedly confiscated more $1 million worth of rubles, foreign currency, gold coins, collectible watches, and luxury goods.

According to the Russian business daily Kommersant, Kuznetsov stands accused of taking a bribe worth 30.5 million rubles ($338,000) for assisting in securing government contracts worth 372 million rubles ($4.1 million). Investigators allege that in exchange for the contracts, businessman Leva Martirosyan bought land in Krasnodar and built a house on it, registering the property in Kuznetsov’s wife’s name.

Kuznetsov has denied the charges against him. At an appeal hearing on May 23, he stated that “as an honest citizen,” he kept all his savings “either in bank accounts, as expected, or at home.” Kuznetsov also asked the court to take the state of his health into consideration when deciding his pre-trial measures, claiming that overworking had caused him a number of ailments. The court rejected Kuznetsov’s appeal, leaving him in pre-trial detention.

A day before Kuznetsov’s arrest, Vladimir Putin removed Sergey Shoigu from his post as Russia’s defense minister, which he had held for nearly 12 years. Russian pro-war and Z-blogger Telegram channels linked Ivanov and Kuznetsov’s arrests to “purges” within the ministry. Mikhail Zvinchuk, the creator of the Telegram channel Rybar and a former member of the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service, wrote that the news of Ivanov and Kuznetsov’s arrests was met with “great enthusiasm” on the front lines.

Ivan Popov

On May 21, news broke that police had arrested another military official, career officer Major General Ivan Popov, the former commander of Russia’s 58th Army. But whereas Ivanov and Kuznetsov were charged with bribery, Popov was accused of large-scale fraud.

Popov was relieved of his command back in July 2023 and has claimed that he was dismissed after informing his superiors about problems related to the Russian military’s “combat operations” and “logistics.” Former Ukrainian lawmaker and Donbas separatist leader Oleg Tsaryov later reported that Popov was sent to Syria “in a leadership role.” (Anonymous Telegram channels said the same.)

Citing a source in the Defense Ministry, Vedemosti reported that the criminal case against Popov was initiated in connection with the theft and sale of metal products intended for the construction of fortifications at the front. Russia’s Investigative Committee said that Popov was involved in the theft of some 1,700 tons of “rolled metal products” worth more than 130 million rubles ($1.4 million), which were purchased by the Kremlin-appointed administration of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, where Popov led occupying troops before his dismissal.

On May 23, the Investigative Committee requested Popov’s transfer from pre-trial detention to house arrest.

Update: A Moscow military court rejected the Investigative Committee’s request to transfer Popov to house arrest in a closed-door hearing on May 24, Mediazona reported.

Popov has pleaded not guilty and his father claims he was most likely set up. “He said something to his superiors, some truth, and that’s when it all started,” Popov’s father told the Telegram channel Baza.

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Vadim Shamarin

Also on May 23, news broke of the arrest of Lieutenant-General Vadim Shamarin, the deputy chief of the Russian army’s General Staff and the head of its Main Communications Directorate. Investigators claim that between April 2016 and October 2023, Shamarin accepted 36 million rubles (around $400,000) in bribes from Telta, a telephone company based in Perm, in exchange for “increasing the volume of products supplied” under Defense Ministry contracts.

Shamarin was placed in pre-trial custody for two months. According to the state news agency TASS, he has pleaded not guilty.

Citing sources in law enforcement, TASS also reported that two Telta employees, CEO Alexey Vysokov and chief accountant Elena Grishina testified against Shamarin. Vysokov and Grishina were arrested on charges of large-scale fraud in June 2023, along with former Telta director Igor Morozov.

Asked to comment on whether Shamarin’s arrest was part of a “purge” of the Defense Ministry, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “The fight against corruption is a consistent effort. This isn’t a ‘campaign,’ it’s constant, ongoing work. This is an integral part of our law enforcement agencies’ activities. There’s no ‘campaign’ to speak of here.”

Later on May 23, Russian media reported that yet another Defense Ministry official, procurement head Vladimir Verteletsky, had been arrested on bribery charges. The Russian Investigative Committee later clarified that Verteletsky actually stands accused of abuse of office. According to investigators, Verteletsky approved incomplete work in 2022, costing the state more than 70 million rubles ($764,000) in damages. He was remanded in custody, as well.