MOSCOW Russian police detained Sergei Storchak, the Deputy Finance Minister, as part of a criminal investigation, the Finance Ministry said. Mr Storchak is responsible for Russia’s debt policy and oversees the $148 billion (£72 billion) stabilisation fund, which collects windfall revenues from oil exports.

“The detention took place outside the ministry. It may be related to criminal cases against a third party, not finance ministry officials,” the ministry said in a statement. A senior police source said that Mr Storchak had been detained on criminal charges but declined to give any details. Another source close to Alexei Kudrin, the Finance Minister, said that he “could not rule out” the possibility that the detention was part of a campaign against Mr Storchak’s powerful boss before next month’s parliamentary election.

Mr Storchak, 53, was appointed deputy minister in 2005. Tass news agency quoted a Finance Ministry source as saying that the FSB security police had searched Mr Storchak’s office yesterday. (Reuters)

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