By way of Christy CooneyBBC News3 hours agoImage caption, Russia’s deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov, left, along President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei ShoiguA Russian deputy defence minister has been detained on suspicion of taking bribes, consistent with the rustic’s best investigative frame.The Investigative Committee mentioned on Tuesday that Timur Ivanov used to be being held and an investigation performed.Appointed to the defence ministry in 2016, Mr Ivanov, 47, used to be answerable for Russia’s army infrastructure initiatives. Activists have lengthy criticised the degrees of alleged corruption in Russia.In 2022, the Anti-Corruption Basis (ACF), the crowd based via past due opposition chief Alexei Navalny, accused Mr Ivanov of collaborating in “corruption schemes all through development within the territories of Ukraine occupied via Russia”. Particularly, it mentioned he had profited from development initiatives within the Ukrainian port town of Mariupol, a lot of which used to be destroyed via Russian bombing within the months following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Investigative Committee’s announcement of Mr Ivanov’s arrest didn’t point out how the deputy minister replied to the allegations in opposition to him.The phase of Russia’s legal code underneath which Mr Ivanov used to be detained – Phase 6 of article 290 – applies when a suspected bribe exceeds 1,000,000 roubles (£8,620; $10,700).Offences are punishable via sizeable fines and as much as 15 years in jail. Mr Ivanov used to be up to now deputy high minister of the Moscow area, the place present defence minister Sergei Shoigu in short served as governor, and is alleged to stay an in depth affiliate of Mr Shoigu’s. The detention marks a unprecedented transfer in opposition to a member of Russia’s governing elite, a lot of whom are believed to have used their positions to acquire huge non-public fortunes. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov instructed journalists that President Vladimir Putin were notified of the detention upfront.
