In a very unusual step yesterday, Mil.ru published an explicit denial that recent cadre changes have any connection to corruption. The possibility of a link between high-ranking personnel dismissals and corruption cases has been the subject of some speculation.
The press release says the Defense Ministry is devoting great attention to anticorruption efforts, and talking openly about cases like Gaydukov’s. But it denies that any other [read Verkhovtsev’s] recent dismissal is connected to this.
It maintains high-ranking officers are being dismissed for the usual reasons — age, health, and their own request. It adds that they have many years of worthy service behind them.
As far as other moves go, it says “organizational-personnel measures” [i.e. orgshtat or TO&E changes] have caused some officers to be relieved of their duties or be assigned to new ones.
The Defense Ministry “doth protest too much” perhaps. It might not want Congress asking questions about where U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction money has gone. At any rate, it’s uncommon for the Defense Ministry to take offense, and react so immediately to media speculation.
Russian Defense Policy 