A group of unnamed "high-ranking" officials were arrested on charges of stealing around 60 million rubles ($6.7 million) from the budget of Russia's Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the state-run media outlet TASS reported on June 11, citing the press office of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
It was the latest in a string of corruption cases in Russia which have reached the highest echelons of the country's security and military apparatus.
According to the FSB, the "organized group" of individuals, which included government and law enforcement officials, allegedly stole money from a state-funded agricultural development program in Karachay-Cherkessia.
The Karachay-Cherkess Republic is located in Russia's North Caucasus region, bordering Georgia to the south.
The FSB did not provide any more details about the suspects or the case, but said that fraud-related criminal proceedings had been opened.
In April, now-former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained on suspicion of bribery, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was reassigned as the head of the country's security council on May 13, replacing Nikolai Patrushev.
Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, the head of the personnel department of the Russian Defense Ministry, was detained on May 13.
At the end of May, Major General Ivan Popov, the former commander of Russia's 58th Army, was arrested on suspicion of fraud.
Following this, Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, a deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff and head of the Main Directorate of Communications, was detained for allegedly receiving a large bribe.
Oleg Sukhov
