Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ At least 226 million rubles ($2.88 million) is reported to have been stolen during the construction of border fortifications in Russia's Bryansk region. The deputy governor, Nikolai Simonenko, has been been raided by investigators pursuing a criminal case. ⬇️

2/ Bryansk has become the third Russian region bordering Ukraine to become the focus of a scandal over corruption in the fortification programme, after Kursk and Belgorod. Kursk's governor and deputy governor are currently detained and awaiting trial.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1914246364592062957

3/ The corruption scandal in the Kursk region is reportedly the reason why another former governor, Roman Starovoit, shot himself on 7 July. He was said to have been about to face charges over a $190 million fraud.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1942271564772159634

4/ In the Belgorod region, Deputy Governor Rustem Zainullin and six other defendants have been charged with embezzlement on an especially large scale. They are currently in pre-trial detention.

5/ As the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports, Bryansk deputy governor Nikolai Simonenko may be about to join his regional colleagues as a defendant:

"More than 226.2 million rubles were stolen during the so-called construction of fortifications in the Bryansk region."

6/ "The prosecutor's office filed claims for this amount against the capital construction department and contractors. In total, more than 20 claims have been filed demanding that the transactions be declared null and void and penalties be collected.

7/ "This morning, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB came to search the deputy governor of the Bryansk region Nikolai Simonenko in a criminal case on fortifications.

8/ The official oversees, among other things, the work of the regional capital construction department."

It's likely that a similar scenario will unfold as in Kursk or Belgorod, where a substantial portion of a 19.5 billion ruble ($248 million) budget was stolen.

9/ Former head of the capital construction department of the Belgorod region, Aleksey Soshnikov, and two of his subordinates have been arrested this week on embezzlement charges. Several business executives and Deputy Governor Rustem Zainullin are already in custody.

10/ Sosnikov and Zainullin are said to have "used their official position for personal purposes and the interests of third parties" to illegally enrich themselves. They signed agreements worth 1.139 billion rubles ($14.5 million) and allegedly stole $11.9 million of the money.

11/ The purloined funds are said to have been 'washed' through companies owned by cronies of Zainullin and transferred to him.

12/ Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov is still officially a witness in the case, but as VChK-OGPU notes, it's unlikely that the fraud could have happened without his involvement. He is said to be fighting hard to obstruct the case, leading to the suspects being be moved to Moscow.

13/ It's been reported that the federal Prosecutor General's Office has demanded that the Belgorod fortification contractors repay around 1 billion rubles ($12.73 million). Gladov is said to have met with Putin, likely to plead against the possibility of his dismissal. /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 iz.ru/1919428/2025-0…
🔹 en.iz.ru/en/1924493/ana…