The head of the Russian state statistics committee, Yuri Yurkov, has been arrested following allegations that he distorted information about major companies to help them avoid paying taxes.

A government spokesman said he is also accused of selling confidential information and that an unspecified number of other top officials have also been arrested.

The BBC Moscow correspondant says it's extremely rare for the authorities to open a criminal case against such a high-ranking official.

But he said the statistics office office has struggled to adapt to the capitalist system and the figures it produces are often ridiculed by Western experts.