ALEXANDER NEMENOV via Getty
- Five senior figures in Russia's defense establishment have been arrested on corruption charges.
- A former UK defense attaché in Moscow described corruption as a "cancer" within Russia's MOD.
- The arrests follow the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defense minister.
It began with Timur Ivanov, Russia's then-deputy defense minister, who was arrested after being accused of taking bribes "on a particularly large scale."
Then came Lt. Gen. Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the defense ministry's personnel directorate. He was arrested after more than 100 million rubles (over $1 million), gold coins, and other valuables were seized from his residences.