High-profile Detentions Of Officials Took Place In Russia

• 26.08.2025, 9:15

ISW analysts have revealed the Kremlin's goal.

The aggressor country Russia has detained a number of officials in charge of three regions bordering Ukraine. This was reported by analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Russian officials want to be blamed for the failure of border defense against raids and incursions by the Ukrainian military, including the Kursk offensive.

On August 25, Russian law enforcers detained the acting deputy governor of Kursk Region Vladimir Bazarov as part of a criminal case over embezzlement of funds allocated in Russia for the construction of defensive fortifications on the border of Kursk and Belgorod regions.

The former governor of Kursk Region Alexei Smirnov, former deputy governor of Bryansk Region Nikolai Simonenko and former deputy governor of Belgorod Region Rustem Zainullin were detained on similar charges.

"ISW is further convinced that these arrests and personnel changes are part of a coordinated effort by the Kremlin to make border region officials extreme for Russia's failure to repel a Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region in August 2024," the analysts' report said.