MOSCOW, February 21 - RAPSI. Corruption in the Russian Armed Forces has caused 7.5 billion ($232 mln) rubles in damages in 2012 alone, the Investigative Committee reported on Thursday.

The committee found that the number of corruption offenses grew by 8.4% compared with the previous year and that the loss increased by 150%.

The military investigators report a rise in crime in the border guard service, the Federal Protective Service and the Armed Forces. These crimes account for 82% of all corruption offenses. The reverse trend can be seen in the Federal Agency for Special Construction, where the number of crimes has dropped by three times, in the Emergency Situations Ministry, where the crime record has halved, and in the Interior Ministry, where a 30% decrease has been noted.

A series of embezzlement cases in the Armed Forces involving the property of the Defense Ministry have been making headlines over the last few months. The investigation into these cases led to the Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's resignation. Serdyukov is currently only a witness in the case, while Yevgeniya Vasilyeva, former head of the ministry's department of property relations, is one of the defendants.

Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has stated that at least 25 embezzlement cases have been opened involving Oboronservis, a company controlled by the Defense Ministry, and damages to the value of 5 billion rubles.