Associated Press – Russian authorities announced the arrest of another senior defense ministry official on Tuesday on bribery charges, days after President Vladimir Putin replaced the defense minister in a cabinet reshuffle, amid expectations of further purges at the ministry. .
Russia’s top law enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, said in a statement that Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the ministry’s main human resources department, was arrested on bribery charges and detained pending investigation and trial.
Putin replaces long-time Russian defense minister Sergei Shoiguhttps://t.co/LCsAPoHOWQ
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Kuznetsov faces up to 15 years in prison on suspicion of accepting an unusually large bribe, the statement said. Officials’ homes and other properties were searched, and authorities seized gold coins, luxury goods and 100 million rubles (just over $1 million) in cash, the Investigative Committee reported.
President Vladimir Putin on Sunday replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister and moved him to a new post as secretary of Russia’s Security Council in a cabinet reshuffle following the latter’s fifth term in office. He proposed that top economic official Andrei Belousov become defense minister. Many expect Belousov to carry out further purges.
Belousov’s candidacy must be approved by Russia’s upper house of parliament, which is widely seen as a formality.
Mr Shoigu’s deputy, Timur Ivanov, was arrested last month on bribery charges and ordered to be detained pending an official investigation. Mr. Ivanov’s arrest was widely interpreted as an attack on Mr. Shoigu and a possible precursor to his removal, despite his close personal ties to President Putin.
Russian deputy defense minister arrested on suspicion of briberyhttps://t.co/aoty6rsVnO
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Shoigu is widely seen as a key figure in Putin’s decision to send Russian troops to Ukraine. Russia expected the operation to quickly overwhelm the much smaller and less well-equipped Ukrainian army, and that it would be broadly welcomed by the Ukrainian people.
Instead, the conflict prompted Ukraine to mount a fierce defense that dealt humiliating blows to Russian forces, including a retreat from an attempt to take the capital, Kiev, and a counterattack that drove Moscow’s forces out of the Kharkov region and the capital. The southern city of Kherson.
