Russian deputy defense minister's detention appeal denied

STORY: The Moscow court service said Ivanov's appeal to be released or placed under house arrest was denied.

Ivanov's lawyer Murad Musayev told Reuters the reasonings for his detention were unjust.

"We presented to the court the relevant European Union resolution and other documents containing information about the sanctions imposed on Ivanov. He is on the sanction lists of both the United States and Canada, and the European Union, even New Zealand and Australia. Therefore, to seriously discuss in court that Ivanov might flee to the European Union, in my opinion, is absolutely unacceptable. And yet it is precisely on these assumptions that he is taken into custody."

In the biggest corruption scandal for years involving a government minister, Ivanov is accused of receiving a "particularly large bribe" in the form of property services from a construction company.

Ivanov's arrest last month by the FSB security service was widely seen as a blow to his boss, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, and as a sign of fighting within the elite as President Vladimir Putin prepares to name a new government at the start of his fifth term.

The Moscow court said it rejected a similar appeal by Sergei Borodin, a friend of Ivanov who is also charged with conspiring to take bribes, against his pre-trial detention.

Alexander Fomin, the co-founder of the construction company that allegedly provided the bribes, was arrested last month soon after Ivanov and Borodin.

Ivanov had appeared in military uniform when first brought to court after his arrest, but was wearing plain clothes in photographs from Wednesday's hearing.

Interfax news agency quoted his lawyer as saying he had been temporarily removed from his ministerial duties.

RIA said the defense - presumably in order to testify to Ivanov's good character - had brought to the court four bags of state awards that Ivanov had received. A photograph from the courtroom showed them stacked on a wooden table.