Employees of the Russian Interior Ministry and the domestic intelligence service FSB have arrested the deputy governor of the border region of Bryansk, Nikolai Simonenko, on charges of fraud.

The state news agency TASS on Tuesday reported that he and his accomplices were alleged to have embezzled at least 818 million roubles ($10.4 million) during the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine.

This has weakened Russia’s defence capabilities against Ukraine, according to security sources.

Mr Simonenko faces up to 10 years in a penal colony.

Investigations have also been launched into the head of the construction department of the regional capital Bryansk, Yevgeny Shura.

There have already been similar cases in the Kursk region, which also borders Ukraine, southeast of Bryansk.

In April, former Kursk governor Alexei Smirnov and his deputy were arrested for alleged fraud.

This case also involved fortifications.

Smirnov’s predecessor, Roman Starovoit, had reported that the facilities had been completed and was later appointed transport minister.

At the beginning of July, President Vladimir Putin dismissed him from office without giving any reasons, and a few hours later, Mr Starovoit’s death was announced.

The investigating authorities assumed suicide; however, the case raises many questions.

In the summer of 2024, Ukrainian troops unexpectedly invaded the Kursk region in a counter-attack, carrying the war ordered by Mr Putin more than three years earlier into the aggressor’s own territory for the first time.
Russian forces took months to recapture the region.

(dpa/NAN)