Top Russian military officials are being arrested. Why is it happening?

FILE - This photo taken and released by Basmanny District Court press service on April 24, 2024, shows Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov standing in a defendants' cage in court in Moscow. FILE - In this undated photo distributed by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Aug. 28, 2021, Lt. Gen. Yury Kuznetsov is seen during a military parade in Krasnodar, Russia. FILE - This photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, shows Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin, deputy chief of the military general staff in Moscow on Oct. 6, 2023. FILE - In this photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on June 8, 2023, Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, the commander of the 58th Army, is seen in a photo at an undisclosed location.

It began last month with the arrest of a Russian deputy defense minister. Then the head of the ministry's personnel directorate was hauled into court. This week, two more senior military officials were detained. All face charges of corruption, which they have denied.