MOSCOW, July 4 (Reuters) - A Russian military court on Thursday placed Colonel Artyom Gorodilov, commander of the country's 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade, in pre-trial detention for two months on charges of large-scale fraud, the TASS state news agency reported.

In 2022, the New York Times reported that Gorodilov was in command of Russia's 234th Air Assault Regiment which Ukraine and the West say killed Ukrainian civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha in March that year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the Bucha allegations as "a provocation" and said the Russian Army had nothing to do with the killings which Russian officials have suggested were staged for propaganda purposes.

Gorodilov, who was promoted for his exploits in what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine, is the latest in a series of high-ranking Russian military officers and senior defense officials to be arrested on charges of corruption in recent months.

It was not clear how he pleaded to the charges. (Reporting by Reuters Writing by Felix Light Editing by Andrew Osborn)