Vadim Anatolyevich Shamarin (; born 10 June 1971 in

Taganrog Taganrog (, ) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don (river), Don River. It is in the Black Sea region. Population: Located at the site of a ...

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

) is a former Russian military officer who served as head of the Main Communications Directorate of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

and deputy chief of the

Russian General Staff The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation () is the military staff of the Russian Armed Forces. It is the central organ of the military command of the Armed Forces Administration and oversees operational command of the armed ...

until he was court martialed and convicted of bribery.

Biography

He graduated from the Novocherkassk Higher Military Command School of Communications and the Military Academy of Communications In 1992, he was the commander of the radio center's remote control platoon, and then rose to become the head of the communications center of the communications brigade. In the early 2000s, he became commander of the communications brigade of the

Eastern Military District The Order of the Red Banner Eastern Military District ( Russian: Восточный военный округ) is a military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction wi ...

. In 2010, Shamarin became the head of communications of the Eastern Military District. In 2020, he was appointed to the position of acting head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces for Communications and Deputy

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

. In 2021, the prefix "acting" was dropped with the corresponding

presidential decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, royal figure, or other relevant authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislative laws, or customary l ...

was signed by President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

. Shamarin served in this position until 2024. On May 23, 2024, Shamarin was detained by the Main Military Investigation Department of the

Investigative Committee of Russia The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF; ) has since January 2011 been the main federal investigating authority in Russia. Its name (''Sledstvennyi komitet'') is usually abbreviated to ''SKR'' (). The agency replaced the Ru ...

and later arrested by the court for two months as a suspect in committing a crime under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the

Criminal Code of Russia The Russian Criminal Code () is the prime source of the Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (UGKRF) came into force on 1 January 1997. The new Criminal Code replaced the So ...

("Receiving a bribe on an especially large scale by an official"). Shamarin is suspected of receiving bribes (the so-called "kickback") totaling 36 million rubles from Alexey Vysokov,

General Director A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the Perm Telephone Plant Telta OJSC, and Elena Grishina, the chief accountant of the same company, who were arrested in 2023. In particular, according to the investigation, Shamarin assisted Vysokov and Grishina in obtaining

government contracts Government procurement or public procurement is the purchase of goods, works (construction) or services by the state, such as by a government agency or a state-owned enterprise. In 2019, public procurement accounted for approximately 12% of GDP i ...

with the

Russian Ministry of Defense The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (; MOD) is the governing body of the Russian Armed Forces. The President of Russia is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Commander-in-Chief of the forces ...

for a total amount of 442 million rubles On 17 April 2025, Shamarin was convicted by a court-martial over the bribery charges and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shamarin, Vadim Russian lieutenant generals 1971 births Living people People from Taganrog Russian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine People convicted of bribery in Russia