(Adds details, background in paras 3-9)...

(Adds details, background in paras 3-9) MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow District Military Court has upheld an arrest warrant for an Audit Chamber employee who was earlier detained on suspicion of receiving a 1 million euro ($1.4 million) bribe. The court rejected an appeal from Yury Gaidukov"s lawyers, who claimed his arrest was unlawful. Lawyer Vladimir Samokhin told journalists he plans to appeal to a higher court. Earlier reports said that Gaidukov was an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) assigned to the Audit Chamber. However, the FSB denied that Gaidukov was its employee. Gaidukov is charged with receiving a bribe during an audit of the power and engineering company, Energomash. However, another lawyer, Igor Pastukhov, said the criminal case was "instigated to avoid accusations of violations uncovered during the audit." The head of Russia"s Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov, denied that Energomash management was involved in bribing an Audit Chamber representative. Lyudmila Aivar, the lawyer of another defendant in the case, said the Audit Chamber had discovered violations in Energomash"s business activities that could have led to the company"s management facing criminal proceedings. "After that, the management turned to a large legal company, headed by my client, for consultations on settling the situation, that is, how to eradicate the violations," she said, adding that her client, now in a pre-trial detention center, was paid for the legal assistance he rendered Energomash.

MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti) - Two Moscow...

MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti) - Two Moscow police officers have been arrested on suspicion of attempting to extort a 1.5 million euro ($2.3 million) bribe from a bank in the Russian capital, investigators said on Monday. "Two suspects have been taken into custody," said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Prosecutor General"s Office investigation committee. Although the Interior Ministry has not yet officially revealed the identities of the suspects, a law enforcement source said earlier that police majors Dmitry Tselyakov and Alexander Nosenko had attempted to extort 1.5 million euros from Inkredbank vice president Pyots Chuvilin. Chuvilin is also the general director of the Spartak Moscow hockey club. The two officers were detained at the beginning of last week and then formally arrested after a warrant had been issued by Moscow"s Basmanny District Court.

GENEVA, December 12 (RIA Novosti) - Switzerland...

GENEVA, December 12 (RIA Novosti) - Switzerland scrapped checks at land border crossings on Friday as the country joined the Schengen visa agreement.