Another senior Russian defence official held on graft charges

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A deputy commander of Russia’s Leningrad military district has been detained on suspicion of accepting a 20 million rouble ($224,000) bribe, Russia’s investigative committee said on Monday, in the latest in a string of corruption probes.

General Major Valery Muminjanov, according to investigators, helped several companies win contracts to provide the military with clothes in exchange for the money, the committee said in a statement.

Reuters was unable to immediately contact his lawyer and it was not clear how he has pleaded to the charges.

Several senior defence officials have faced criminal investigations since a shake-up at the Defence Ministry began in May when Andrei Belousov replaced Sergei Shoigu as its head.

($1 = 89.3000 roubles)