Text taken from a variety of sources including Hinshtein
Commentary from Russian military journalist is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The new governor of the Kursk region, Khinshtein, commented on the arrests of his "predecessors", calling them "internal enemies".
He also spoke about the fraudulent schemes that operated under the arrested ex-governor.
The day before, following the former governor of the Kursk region Alexey Smirnov, the court also placed his long-time associate, the former chairman of the regional government Alexey Dedov (on the left in the photo) under arrest. Let me remind you that both of them are accused of fraud in the construction of defensive structures, which was carried out by the infamous Kursk Region Development Corporation (KRKO).
It is important to explain that initially this structure (a joint-stock company with 100% participation of the region) was created exclusively as a project office to support investors, but through the efforts of officials it turned into a real super-monopoly. Along with defensive structures (₽19.4 billion), KRKO built FAPs and aviation infrastructure in the region, received land for KRT (we have already stopped one such construction in Zheleznogorsk), bought up alcoholic beverage brands and even almost became the sole supplier of medicines for the needs of the region (the corresponding resolution of the regional government was prepared just before my appointment, but I, of course, blocked it). In total, tens of billions of budget rubles passed through KRKO. How much of it was stolen is an open question.
Suffice it to say that the court of first instance has already satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office to recover ₽4.1 billion to the budget. The funds were allocated for the construction of fortifications, but were appropriated by the management of KRKO and their contractors (we fully supported this claim in court).
Since the end of last year alone, more than ten (!) criminal cases related to KRKO have been opened in the Kursk region (some of them were subsequently combined). To date, along with the ex-governor and the ex-chairman of the government, the director of the Corporation Vladimir Lukin (pictured on the right), three (!) of his former deputies, as well as a number of heads of contractor companies have been arrested.
But there are also criminal cases being investigated in parallel in Ivanovo, where the same people - the heads and contractors of KRKO - were caught embezzling during major repairs of apartment buildings. (Previously, Lukin worked as an adviser on housing and communal services to the governor of the Ivanovo region, but when he moved to Kursk in 2021, he took many of his accomplices and subordinates with him, where they have already deployed in full force.
At least three defendants in the multi-billion anti-corruption lawsuit of the Prosecutor General's Office, not counting Lukin himself, have an "Ivanovo trace". Among them are the former heads of the Department of Housing and Communal Services and the Capital Repairs Fund of the Ivanovo Region).
The previous leaders of the Kursk region - Smirnov, Dedov and others - simply could not help but see who was being trusted with billions of budget money. On the contrary, they deliberately turned a project mini-office into the largest state contractor, which had neither the necessary competence, nor experience, nor even a basic staff of specialists.
The prosecutor's office and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly pointed this out to the region's leaders, but there was no proper response. Why - is clearly visible from the photo I published, where the chairman of the government and the director of KRKO are sitting hugging in frivolous poses.
Alas, the enemy is not only on the other side of the front line. Bribe-takers and corrupt officials undermine the country from within, especially when it comes to theft in the defense sector.
I have no doubt that all persons involved in these multi-billion dollar criminal schemes, unprecedented in cynicism and scale, will be exposed and will be punished as they deserve, regardless of their positions.
For its part, the Kursk region government intends to continue to actively cooperate with law enforcement agencies in restoring order, which I spoke about from the very first days of my work in the region. A number of criminal cases of the KRKO have already been initiated based on our requests.
I express my sincere gratitude to my colleagues from the prosecutor's office, the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and other law enforcement and supervisory bodies for their integrity and firmness in the matter of anti-corruption cleansing of the Kursk region.
I believe that our land will be liberated not only from external, but also from internal enemies.
The headline is in the style of the Pravda newspaper from 1937. But the message is correct - in a war situation, a thief is an internal enemy. Let's see how much the guilty parties will ultimately be given and how much of the stolen goods they will be able to recoup.
P.S. At the same time, it is worth remembering that it was not only the theft of budget money for field fortifications that was the cause of problems in defending the state border in the Kursk region.