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| Russia sacks armed forces chief amid corruption scandal | Russia sacks armed forces chief amid corruption scandal |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Russia's President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the armed forces chief, just three days after the defence minister was sacked over a corruption scandal. | Russia's President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the armed forces chief, just three days after the defence minister was sacked over a corruption scandal. |
| Gen Valery Gerasimov replaces Gen Nikolai Makarov as the new armed forces chief of general staff. | Gen Valery Gerasimov replaces Gen Nikolai Makarov as the new armed forces chief of general staff. |
| Gen Gerasimov commanded Russian forces during the conflict in Chechnya. | Gen Gerasimov commanded Russian forces during the conflict in Chechnya. |
| Russian authorities are investigating the sale of defence ministry assets at prices below market value. | Russian authorities are investigating the sale of defence ministry assets at prices below market value. |
| On Tuesday Mr Putin dismissed defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov, replacing him with a former emergencies minister and loyal ally, Sergei Shoigu. | On Tuesday Mr Putin dismissed defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov, replacing him with a former emergencies minister and loyal ally, Sergei Shoigu. |
| Mr Shoigu presented Gen Gerasimov to President Putin in the Kremlin on Friday, and described him as "a military man to the roots of his hair". | |
| In their conversation, reported on the Kremlin's official website, Mr Shoigu said the general "has colossal experience, both on the general staff and directly in the field and of course he has battle experience". | |
| Gen Gerasimov was deputy to Gen Makarov for 18 months, in 2010-2012. Most recently he served as commander of Russia's Central Military District. | |
| Russian media report that he served as a commander in the North Caucasus Military District in 1998-2003, during Russia's offensive against separatist rebels in Chechnya. | |
| Mr Putin said Gen Gerasimov would have to tackle problematic relations between the defence ministry and military enterprises. | |
| "Often recently we've come up against changing orders from the defence ministry for industrial suppliers to fulfil... the technology changes rapidly, new means for waging war appear," Mr Putin said. | |
| "Of course, we need to embrace promising new technology, but we also need a certain degree of stability." |