Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov fired by Putin

Anatoly Serdyukov has been replaced with a former emergencies minister and loyal ally of Mr Putin, Sergei Shoigu.

Russia’s top investigative agency is investigating the sale of ministry assets at prices below market value.

Mr Putin said he had removed Mr Serdyukov to create “conditions for an objective investigation”.

Last month, Russian investigators raided the offices of a state-controlled military contractor and began investigating the company amid claims that it had sold assets to commercial firms at a loss of nearly 3bn roubles ($100m;