Russian officials apprehend the vice-governor and high-ranking authorities regarding unlawful building activities

Russian officials apprehend the vice-governor and high-ranking authorities regarding unlawful building activities

A former Defense Ministry envoy and a regional vice-governor are the latest officials to fall in a widening crackdown on corruption and abuse of power in Russia.

Two more Russian officials have been ensnared in the country’s intensifying campaign of arrests and prosecutions targeting high-level figures in the military and regional governments, raising further questions about the motives and scope of the Kremlin’s internal purge.

A Moscow court sentenced former military envoy Sergei Bolgarev to eight and a half years in a high-security penal colony for accepting over 14 million rubles (about $160,000) in bribes while overseeing government defense contracts. 

According to the Investigative Committee, Bolgarev received the payments from Sergei Kuzmenko, the CEO of Pyatigorsk Plant “Impulse”, in exchange for favorable oversight of communications equipment contracts totaling more than 500 million rubles ($5.8 million) between 2017 and 2023.

The court also ordered the confiscation of Bolgarev’s illicit earnings in full, seizing his assets for the state. 

Meanwhile, in Chelyabinsk, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Investigative Committee detained former Vice-Governor Alexander Bogashov, along with two senior regional officials: Roman Menzhinsky, head of the governor’s administration, and Eldar Belousov, regional property minister.

The trio is under investigation for exceeding official authority during the illegal construction of a health and leisure complex within the grounds of the governor’s residence—at a cost of over 50 million rubles ($580,000). Investigators allege the use of a front construction firm and a trail of fabricated documents. Searches are ongoing, and decisions on pre-trial detention are pending.

The two cases follow a growing pattern of high-profile prosecutions and mysterious deaths among Russian officials. Earlier this month, OCCRP reported on a string of arrests and fatalities tied to the military, transport, and energy sectors. 

Former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov was charged with fraud while hospitalized in critical condition; General Khalil Arslanov was ordered to repay $18.5 million after a bribery conviction.

Within weeks, former transport minister Roman Starovoit was found dead from a gunshot wound hours after his dismissal, and Transneft vice president Andrei Badalov fell from a window to his death.Political analyst Alexander Kynev told OCCRP that regional officials are especially vulnerable when “the previous system of communication collapses” — typically after a governor is replaced. “Representatives of old teams have lost the usual lobbying mechanisms and protection they once had,” he said.

Anti-corruption expert Ilia Shumanov, however, questioned whether the latest targets can be classified as elites at all. “It’s hard to call someone from the military representative corps an elite,” he said. “These are embedded Ministry of Defense officials who oversee deliveries—they operate on the periphery.”

Still, Shumanov noted a broader trend: “In the first six months of this year, nearly 7,000 corruption-related cases were sent to court—that’s a 14% increase over the previous period. Such growth can’t be ignored.”

The Kremlin has remained silent on the broader implications. Dmitry Peskov, the president’s spokesperson, has declined to comment on the arrests or unexplained deaths.

Kynev also noted that many recent cases appear to reflect “redistribution and change of ownership,” particularly in cases where large businesses have lost federal protection.

Shumanov agreed, characterizing the current campaign as “less about fighting corruption and more about reformatting and nationalizing financial flows to support Russia’s confrontation with the West.” He said the campaign is “more politically charged, less loyal, and less selective in terms of who becomes a target.”

He added that regional elites are being sent a clear signal: “The Kremlin wants to shut down any thoughts of federalization or power games at the local level.”

“Now, even lower- and mid-level officials are expected to demonstrate loyalty and abandon corrupt practices—especially in sensitive areas like the Ministry of Defense,” Shumanov said, citing the case of Roman Starovoit as a cautionary example.

He also pointed out that separate branches within the FSB oversee defense-related corruption and regional infrastructure respectively, meaning these cases likely stem from different factions. “It’s unlikely they were coordinated,” he said.

While Russian authorities portray the crackdown as an anti-corruption drive, critics argue it reflects deeper power struggles within the government’s military-industrial and regional elite. The wave of purges may signal a shifting landscape ahead of the country’s 2026 presidential election—or a warning to those perceived as disloyal.