“I don’t think I even have that much life left in me.” Alexei Smirnov, the 52-year-old former governor of Russia’s Kursk region, said this in court when prosecutors asked for 15 years in prison. State news agency RIA Novosti carried the remark, and the Kyiv Independent repeated it. The judge gave him 14.
A court in Kursk handed down the sentence on April 6, 2026, to be served in a maximum-security prison. The Moscow Times called him the highest-ranking former official jailed so far in a long-running scandal over contracts to build defenses on the border with Ukraine.
What the court ordered
Smirnov was convicted of bribery, two counts of it on a large scale, according to Meduza. The court fined him 400 million rubles, about $5 million, and ordered 20.95 million rubles ($261,500) seized. That equals what he told the court he had taken from two construction firms with state contracts for the border works. He lost a state award and is barred from public posts for 10 years following his release. Prosecutors had also wanted 500 million rubles ($6 million) in fines.
He pleaded guilty. Under a plea bargain reached with prosecutors, the case went forward without a review of evidence or witness testimony. Smirnov called the demanded term “disproportionate, given the plea agreement,” the Kyiv Independent reported.
The Starovoit link
Smirnov ran the region only from May to December 2024. Before that he had been first deputy to Roman Starovoit, who later became Russia’s transport minister. In court last month he testified against Starovoit. He said Starovoit may have pocketed 100 million rubles ($1.2 million) from a kickback scheme in which contractors’ bribes were split among regional officials. German news agency dpa reported that Smirnov said his predecessor had recommended the practice of taking bribes.
Starovoit died in July 2025, shortly after Putin dismissed him. Investigators said it was suicide. Russian media tied his dismissal to the fortifications case, and Meduza noted one theory that he was due to be the next person charged.
Investigators said both defensive belts were finished in October 2022. Smirnov and his deputy Alexei Dedov shared 12.9 million rubles for covering for work on school and lyceum renovations. They allegedly took roughly 8 million rubles more from Maxim Vasiliev, a regional legislator whose company built fortifications in the Glushkovsky District.
A border that did not hold
The affair surfaced after Ukrainian troops crossed into Kursk in August 2024 and met little resistance. Media reports cited by dpa said tank barriers were flimsy and could not stop Ukrainian armor. Smirnov resigned in December 2024. He and Dedov were detained in April 2025, and a Moscow court held Smirnov in custody.
The sentence is not the end of the case. In February, a Kursk judge jailed the ex-boss of a local building firm and three of its managers for terms of seven to nine years over contracts for the border works.
Sources
- Former Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov Jailed 14 Years for Defrauding Government (Moscow Times)
- Russia jails ex-Kursk Oblast governor for 14 years (Kyiv Independent)
- Former Russian governor gets 14-year prison sentence (Meduza)
- 14 years in prison camp for ex-governor of Kursk region (bluewin/dpa)
Sources
- Russia jails ex-Kursk Oblast governor for 14 years over Ukraine…
- Russia jails ex-governor in border defense corruption case
