From Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times: President Vladimir V. Putin fired Russia’s defense minister on Tuesday after the police raided the offices and an apartment of a real estate company involved in the privatization of valuable ministry land near Moscow.

The firing of Anatoly E. Serdyukov, a longtime Putin ally, is one of the highest-level dismissals connected to a corruption case in recent memory in Russia. It was also a departure for Mr. Putin, a leader who has been reluctant to dismiss members of his inner circle. Mr. Putin announced the decision to fire Mr. Serdyukov in a meeting with another longtime political ally, Sergei K. Shoigu, the former minister of emergency situations, whom he appointed the new defense minister. . . .

Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, said the firing was necessary to allow the police to continue their investigation of wrongdoing within the ministry, which would not be possible if Mr. Serdyukov remained. Mr. Serdyukov has not been charged with a crime, and Mr. Putin praised his past work.

Mr. Serdyukov had alienated the uniformed military during a reform that sought to thin the top-heavy officer ranks in Russia, a legacy of Soviet military hierarchy. He adopted a system of noncommissioned officers, as in the United States Army. Generals were also fired. . . .

Mr. Shoigu, the new minister, holds the rank of general. “He is a figure that won’t cause allergies in the military,” Viktor Litovkin, the chief editor of the weekly newspaper Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station. . . .

Mr. Serdyukov, a former furniture store manager from St. Petersburg, is married to Yulia V. Pokhlebenina, the daughter of a close associate of Mr. Putin, Viktor A. Zubkov. Mr. Zubkov is chairman of Gazprom, the natural gas company, a post in Russia with power at least rivaling that of minister of defense.

But the couple have recently become estranged. And a high-profile police raid late last month on the real estate company, Oboronservice, telegraphed Mr. Serdyukov’s dismissal. . . .

In another raid related to the real estate case, the police searched the home of a female official affiliated with Oboronservice. They found Mr. Serdyukov at that location, the newspaper Izvestia reported.  (photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

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