According to Ekho Moskvy, Mityaev was arrested on November 7 – much earlier than other figures that fell under the federal probe. His parents complain that the arrestees are being subjected to a double standard: While Yevgenia Vasilyeva, former head of the Property Relations Department, is being held under house arrest, Mityaev was placed in pre-trial detention at Butyrka Prison. The latter is well-known as the prison where Hermitage Capital Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was murdered after being held for over a year and by being denied necessary medical attention. Mityaev’s parents say that he suffers from a serious heart condition and is similarly being denied proper care.

The situation is especially troubling for the Mityaev family given that, according to the arrestee’s mother, he had cooperated with federal investigators to help build the corruption case. She says he provided evidence on the Defense Ministry’s property sales and on who received “cuts” from those deals.

Mityaev is charged with accepting a bribe of 3 million rubles (about USD 97,000). According to investigators, he agreed to help sell Defense Ministry property in the Moscow suburb Shchelkovo in return for the bribe.

As the RIA Novosti news agency reports, Serdyukov made the announcement at a joint conference of the Defense Ministry and the Main Military Procuracy.

The predominant crime among officers is abuse of authority and the powers of office (46%), which includes corruption.  Serdyukov said the damage done by these crimes amounts to around 1.5 billion rubles (€34 or $47 million) yearly.  Officers have also been found guilty of dodging active service, as well as assault and battery.

The Defense Minister believes the situation is partly caused by a weak educational groundwork among officers.

“Arrangements are not made for open discussion of officer misconduct at service conferences or officer meetings,” Serdyukov said.  He called on military prosecutors to join forces “in resolving this important and complex problem, to work out concrete measures for reducing the level of criminality among officers of the Armed Forces in the near-term.”

“We are not content with the level of legal knowledge and the effectiveness of individual performance,” Serdyukov noted.  Crimes are frequently hushed-up before the military community and military families, he added.

“The formal relationships of some bosses to determining the best officers for 2008 has led to a situation, where far from the best have ended up among those given encouragement through monthly bonuses.”

State Duma representative Anatoly Lokot, of the Russian Communist Party, said the protestors had three demands: to call off the disbandment of the brigade, to dismiss Defense Minster Anatoly Serdyukov, and to completely stop army reforms.  A corresponding resolution with signatures from local residents has also been prepared.  Lokot promised to deliver the appeal personally to President Medvedev.

The Defense ministry has discussed plans to disband the special forces brigade since the start of the year, as part of sweeping reforms introduced by Serdyukov.  Alexander Postnikov, colonel-general of the Siberian Military District, confirmed the intention in a visit to the brigade in late February.  According to reports last year, Serdyukov’s extensive reforms have led to discontent among top officers, several of whom quit in protest as result.

In Berdsk, a satellite of Novosibirsk, the decision has made local leaders uneasy.  The city council has asked the Russian leadership to cancel the decision, which would put hundreds of people out of work.  Lokot also sent a request to the Defense Ministry.  Neither petition has received an answer.

The region’s governor, Viktor Tolokonsky, had earlier pledged that regional authorities would help those servicemen moved from active duty to the reserves.  Tolokonsky promised support in education and job placement to let soldiers adapt to civilian life.

Lokot was not optimistic.  The disbandment, he said, will “lead to social burdens, under conditions where it’s already impossible to find a job.”

An unnamed source told the paper that the generals and officers are protesting, in part, against military reforms, the privatization of military assets, as well as the reorganization and budget cuts for the administration’s headquarters. Many of the military leaders are planning to tender their resignation, and others have already turned in their documents.

The most notable of the discontented officers is Yury Baluevsky, the chief of the General Staff, whose resignation has been confirmed by army sources. The publication writes that he is protesting the politics of the reforms instituted by Serdyukov.

According to the paper’s source, the dissent is also widespread among the top officials of the General Staff and the Ministry, including General Vasily Smirnov, who leads the General Staff directorate responsible for manning the armed forces. Smirnov would neither confirm nor deny his resignation.

Serdyukov, who hails from a civilian background, has been at odds with military brass for some time. For now, military sources have refused to comment or confirm the information brought forth by Nezavisimaya Gazeta. A series of unofficial comments, however, indicate that Russia’s leadership is now doing everything it can to quash the escalating conflict between the generals and their minister.