MOSCOW (WARINFO) — Former Governor of Russia’s Kursk Region, Alexei Smirnov, was arrested on Wednesday due to allegations of fraud, as stated by the state news agency TASS.
When Ukrainian troops launched a major cross-border operation in August 2024, Smirnov was leading the western region. Following this assault, a Russian counteroffensive successfully expelled most of the Ukrainian forces from the area.
From May 2024 to December of the same year, Smirnov headed the region until he was succeeded by Alexander Khinshtein. Smirnov was apprehended alongside his ex-deputy, Alexei Dedov.
During the initial hours of Ukraine’s offensive into Kursk in August, Smirnov continuously provided reassurances that everything was under control. However, this was happening as Russian border guards struggled with the unexpected assault and found themselves retreating.
A few days afterward, Smirnov received a mild rebuke from President Vladimir Putin during a broadcasted session for concentrating on the military circumstances in his presentation to the nation’s leader instead of addressing the initiatives aimed at assisting civilians in the Kursk area.
(Reporting by WARINFO; Writing by Maxim Rodionov and Felix Light; Edited by Mark Trevelyan)
