A Russian general has been arrested on suspicion of corruption after his former superior informed on him.
The detention of Major General Alexander Ogloblin, the former head of Russia’s military communications department, is the latest arrest of a high-ranking Russian military figure, amid speculation of a clampdown on Vladimir Putin’s top brass.
Ogloblin is being held in pre-trial detention for allegedly accepting 10 million rubles ($103,000) worth of bribes from a telecommunications company to secure defense ministry contracts, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee, reported by business newspaper Kommersant.
Ogloblin had already been sentenced to four and a half years for embezzlement in February 2022 on separate charges, but was released early after he testified against his former superior, Vadim Shamarin, who was deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff. However, Ogloblin’s second arrest followed testimony given against him by Shamarin, according to Kommersant.
Shamarin was accused of receiving procurement kickbacks from manufacturer Perm Telephone Plant Telta. He split the bribe with Ogloblin, which he disclosed as part of a plea deal with investigators, according to Kommersant. In reporting the story, the outlet New Voice of Ukraine said Shamarin may have sought revenge against his former subordinate.
It also said that while former defense minister Sergei Shoigu has not yet been charged with corruption, “it is possible that someone among them will eventually implicate him.”
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Newsweek has contacted Russia’s investigative committee and defense ministry for comment.
The British Ministry of Defense (MOD) said Wednesday that Ogloblin’s second arrest signaled a clampdown by Russia’s authorities against serving and former defense officials who had been appointed by Shoigu, who is now Russia Security Council secretary.
John Foreman, former British defense attache to Moscow and Kyiv, said that the investigation by Russia’s main intelligence agency, the FSB, is “slowly but steadily” progressing through the country’s ministry of defense and that a corruption investigation has rumbled on for years.
“I’ve always thought this was directed at Shoigu himself and the map of those arrested shows the noose is tightening,” he told Newsweek. “Meanwhile Shoigu remains pretty isolated at the NSC (Security Council) kept on a close leash and unable to bring in his own people. No one is quite sure what he’s actually doing.
“He’s 70 next year which would be a good time for Putin to thank him for his service.”
So far, there is no sign of a purge of the general staff or against figures such as the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Valery Gerasimov. “Gerasimov is also 70 next year, but so far Putin has shown no sign of getting rid of him,” Foreman added.
Andrei Soldatov, senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told Newsweek that the FSB has been harassing the military, but so far the arrests have targeted defense ministry staff and not the generals and officers who are fighting in Ukraine.
He said that since the start of Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region the major military targets were former deputy minister of defense Pavel Popov and Valery Mumindzhanov, deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District for Logistics.
The former had overseen the ministry’s department of information systems and the main military research center for robotics, while the latter was accused of corruption in supplying uniforms to troops fighting in Ukraine.
“Thus, the main goal of the arrests is to improve the supply of ammunition and resources, not to punish the generals for errors on the battlefield,” he said, “and the army, untouched by the purges, keeps fighting.”
In April, Timur Ivanov, 48, a deputy defense minister who oversaw large military-related construction projects, including rebuilding Ukraine’s destroyed port city of Mariupol, was arrested on suspicion of taking a large bribe—an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
In quick succession, Shamarin, Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a former top commander in Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, and Lt. Gen. Yury Kuznetsov, head of the Defense Ministry’s personnel directorate, were also arrested on bribery charges.
In May, a fifth ministry official Vladimir Verteletsky, from the defense procurement department, was arrested and charged with abuse of office that resulted in damages worth over 70 million rubles ($776,000), the Investigative Committee said.
The arrests started shortly before Putin began his fifth term and replaced his longtime defense minister Shoigu. They have led to speculation over whether the Russian president was reasserting control over the Defense Ministry, or whether the arrests signaled a turf battle between the military and the security services.
“The goal of Russian authorities is almost certainly not the eradication of corruption entirely,” said the MOD update. They were “likely seeking to limit corruption to more manageable levels that have a less drastic impact on the functioning of the department.”
Update 10/30/24, 2:22 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from John Foreman.
Update 10/31/24, 3:20 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Andrei Soldatov.