About half of the 17 top Russian police...

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the discharge of 17 top police generals earlier on Thursday as part of ongoing efforts to reform the police force.

"The president"s decisions with regard to top Interior Ministry officials were linked to violations committed in the work of law enforcement agencies," the source said.

"Half of them were discharged as part of personnel rotation," he added, using a Kremlin euphemism to suggest the officials had been in their posts for too long.

A member of the Russian Public Chamber, an advisory body to the president, said Medvedev"s move was meant to serve as a warning to others.

"If more crimes are committed [by police], officials will be held responsible, and new dismissals will follow," Anatoly Kucherena said, adding that this was the only way to salvage the force"s credibility.

Those relieved of duty included two deputy interior ministers, Col. Gen. Nikolai Ovchinnikov and Col. Gen. Arkady Yedelev, who were replaced

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