arrest of deputy defence minister on corruption charges reveals bitter factional infighting among the elite

The recent arrest of Timur Ivanov, Russia’s deputy defence minister and close ally of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, has rocked the country’s politics. Ivanov was an important part of a powerful group which included Shoigu as his direct patron but that also includes the billionaire oligarch Gennady Timchenko – a close associate of…