Russia has sentenced former Kursk governor Alexei Smirnov to 14 years in prison for corruption tied to the construction of defensive fortifications in the border region.
A court in the Kursk region found Smirnov guilty of accepting more than $250,000 in kickbacks in exchange for awarding government contracts worth about $2.5 million. He was also fined 400 million rubles (roughly $5 million) after pleading guilty.
The case follows a major security breach in August 2024, when Ukraine launched a cross-border offensive into Kursk—one of the first incursions into Russian territory by a foreign military in decades.
Since then, the Kremlin has ramped up a sweeping anti-corruption campaign targeting regional and military officials, amid criticism over failures to prevent the incursion during the ongoing war.
The situation has already had political consequences. Another former regional leader, Roman Starovoyt, who governed Kursk before Smirnov, died by suicide last year after being dismissed as Russia’s transport minister and reportedly coming under investigation for corruption.
Russian forces ultimately regained control of the region in April 2025, reportedly with support from North Korean troops, ending months of Ukrainian presence on Russian soil.
