Russian news reports say police have arrested the governor of a mineral-rich region on suspicion of embezzlement.
The reports say Alexi Barinov, governor of the Nenets autonomous region in Russia's Arctic, is in police custody and has begun a hunger strike.
Prosecutors reportedly opened a case against Barinov last week. The suspect was previously the chief executive officer for a unit of the oil company Lukoil. Barinov said last week that while at Lukoil prosecutors had dropped a criminal case against him for lack of evidence.
The RIA-Novosti news service says the probe centers on allegations that Barinov used his post at Lukoil to purchase several apartments illegally through the company.
A Barinov spokesman has denied the charges.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.