High drama in the Russian upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, after officers from Russia’s Investigative Committee swooped on Senator Rauf Arashukov, who had his immunity lifted and was arrested on two counts of murder as well as other charges on January 30.

Arashukov is the representative from Karachay-Cherkessia and was accused of masterminding two killings from over a decade ago. The arrest was made by officers from the Investigative Committee, Russia’s answer the to the legendary “Untouchables” police officers that battled the mafia in the US.

The arrest was so important that the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin personally oversaw the operation. Bastrykin is probably Russia’s most feared policeman, who has doggedly pursued exiled oligarch and Yukos Oil owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his associates. Economist and now chief economist at the EBRD Sergei Guriev fled Russia after being questioned by Bastrykin’s men in connection with an investigation into Khodorkovsky’s business.

Arashukov tried to leave the chamber during a speech from prosecutor general of Russia Yuri Chaika accusing Arashukov of various crimes. Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko insisted that he stay. The other members of the council then voted to strip him of his immunity and he was arrested on the floor of the chamber.

After the session the ruling United Russia, of which Arashukov is a member, suspended his membership, pending the results of the investigation.

The 32-year-old Arashukov was accused of committing crimes under three articles of the Criminal Code: participation in a criminal community, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to RUB1mn ($15,000); tampering with witnesses (up to seven years) and two murders (life sentence).

Federal investigators suspect Arashukov of ordering the contract killings in 2010 of a youth activist named Aslan Zhukov and an adviser to former Karachay-Cherkessia President Boris Ebzeyev named Fral Shebzukhov, Meduza reports. There are reported that Arashukov is also linked to another two killings.

Amongst the other charges are accusations of causing grievous bodily harm, participating in organised crime and forging the documents that allowed him to become a member of the Federation Council.

Arashukov became a city council member in Stavropol in 2014 and by the age of 21 he was Karachay-Cherkessia's labour and social development minister. Arashukov has served in Karachay-Cherkessia’s parliament and government, and worked for different Gazprom subsidiaries over the years. He joined the Federation Council on September 18, 2016.

Arashukov is he son of a powerful Gazprom executive, also called Raul Arashukov, who was also arrested on the same day at his office in the Gazprom building in St Petersburg, accused of embezzling more than RUB30bn ($454.8mn).

The spectacular arrest of the Arashukov father and son is unprecedented in Russia where the wealthy and well connected are usually immune to attack. Clearly the arrest on the floor of the Federation Council was intentional and designed to send a message.

The government has become highly unpopular thanks to an austerity policy that has seen real incomes in Russia fall for five years in a row despite growth, a budget surplus, a record current account surplus and companies’ return to profit in the last year. Arashukov’s arrest was partly designed to play to the gallery.

But it was also designed to play to the other members of the Federation Council and the rest of the government. The Kremlin has been running a low profile anti-corruption campaign that has seen thousands of police officers sacked, regional governors arrested in sting operations, half a dozen Duma deputies indicted and even a sitting minister jailed. The campaign is not an anti-graft drive per se but an effort to cut down on the waste as the cash-strapped government looks to use what resources it has more efficiently. However, the inner-circle that surrounds President Vladimir Putin seem to remain exempt from this anti-graft drive.