Russia jails former Kursk Governor for 14 years over kickbacks

Russia has sentenced former Kursk governor Alexei Smirnov to 14 years in prison over corruption linked to the construction of defensive fortifications in the border region.

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A court in the Kursk region said Smirnov was found guilty of accepting kickbacks worth over $250,000 in exchange for awarding government contracts valued at around $2.5 million. He was also fined 400 million rubles (about $5 million) after pleading guilty to the charges.

The case comes in the aftermath of a major security breach in August 2024, when Ukraine launched a cross-border offensive into the Kursk region, marking one of the first incursions into Russian territory by a foreign military in decades.

Since then, the Kremlin has intensified a wide-ranging anti-corruption crackdown targeting regional and military officials, amid criticism over failures to prevent the incursion during the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

The situation in Kursk has already seen political fallout. Another former regional leader, Roman Starovoyt, who governed the region prior to Smirnov, died by suicide last year after being dismissed as Russia’s transport minister amid reports he was also under investigation for corruption.

Russian forces eventually regained control of the region in April 2025, reportedly with assistance from North Korean troops, ending months of Ukrainian presence on Russian soil.