Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ The late governor of Russia's Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, is said to have received huge cash bribes in grocery bags of food and alcohol, and stole 100 million rubles ($1.2 million) from the budget assigned to build fortifications along the border with Ukraine. ⬇️

2/ Starovoit, who shot himself on 7 July 2025 shortly before he was due to be charged for fraud, has been the subject of testimony given by Alexey Smirnov, his also-indicted deputy and successor. Smirnov says that he and his own deputy also took bribes.

3/ The fortifications were swept aside with ease by Ukrainian forces when they invaded the Kursk region in August 2024. Subsequent Russian investigations found that much of the money allocated to the defences had been stolen.

4/ Smirnov was said to have testified against Starovoit after his arrest in April 2025. This has now been confirmed, as he is reported to be cooperating with the authorities under a pre-trial agreement relating to two charges of bribery.

5/ According to Smirnov, "Starovoit received about 100 million rubles [$1.2 million] in kickbacks ... from deals related to the construction of fortifications, and I received about 30 million rubles [$374,000]."

6/ "I personally transferred money to Starovoit before June 2022 at various locations in Kursk, meeting in a car, having previously arranged the meeting.

7/ "These meetings occurred approximately once or twice a month, after which Starovoit decided to transfer the money through his driver. Starovoit and I decided that the money would be transferred through my driver and Starovoit's assistant.

8/ "I personally asked Starovoit to transfer the money this way. We also decided that the driver and assistant would not realize they were handing over money, and that food or alcohol would also be given to Starovoit along with the money."

9/ A bottle of cognac was included with each bribe.

Smirnov claims that the bribery scheme was Starovoit's idea: "I arrived at the Seim base [a local government facility in Kursk]. where Starovoit was staying..."

10/ "I had a conversation with Starovoit, who said it would be a good idea to receive a percentage from the contractors ... to close the deal."

11/ Investigators say that between June 2022 to April 2023, he and his deputy Alexei Dedov, through local resident Dmitry Shubin, received bribes from commercial firms for general favours and municipal contracts for repairs and construction, including fortifications.

12/ According to Smirnov, Starovoit instructed him to enter into contracts with companies that were willing to pay kickbacks. The bribes were to be split evenly: 50% to the regional governor, and the rest to people "involved in the criminal scheme."

13/ Alexei Dedov selected the contractors, according to this division of roles, and Smirnov transferred 25% of the proceeds to him for onward payment to the contractors.

14/ Dedov, according to Smirnov’s testimony, divided up the bribes and said: "This is ‘for the construction’, ‘this is for Mangush’, ‘this is for Mariupol’, and ‘this is from your man’, but he did not name the specific organisations for which he was transferring kickbacks."

15/ Having already pleaded guilty, Smirnov is seeking a suspended sentence. The prosecution is asking for a 15-year prison sentence and a 500 million ruble ($6.2 million) fine. /end

Sources:
🔹 tass.ru/proisshestviya…
🔹 ria.ru/20260402/eks-g…
🔹 kommersant.ru/doc/8535023