Russia's ex-Defense Ministry official Yevgeniya Vasilyeva has been placed under house arrest on charges of a large-scale fraud, Russia’s Investigative Committee press service reports.

      The former head of the Defense Ministry’s property department and a close associate of ex-defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Vasilyeva is expected to stay under house arrest for the next two months, while the investigation on her case is under way. She is suspected of the theft of property belonging to Oboronservis subsidiary enterprises, which is worth over 360 million rubles ($11 million).

      In late October, the apartment of Vasilyeva was searched during an investigation into the case of selling state property below market value. Investigators seized antiques, jewelry and 3 million rubles ($96,000).

      Earlier this autumn two managers of the defense ministry’s property services holding company Oboronservis, Maxim Zakutailo, and his wife Yekaterina Smetanova, were also arrested on suspicion of a large-scale fraud. On the whole, about 7 suspects are now involved in the biggest scandal in the Russia's Defense Ministry for years.