Russian law enforcement authorities arrested an official in the southwestern Kursk region on suspicion of corruption, the regional governor announced Monday.Olga Viktorovna Minakova, deputy head of the Kursk regions housing renovation fund, was arrested last week on charges of facilitating the transfer of a bribe, Acting Kursk region Governor Alexander Khinshtein said during a government meeting.According to the state-run news agency TASS, Khinshtein said Minakova was relieved of her duties.
The Kursk regions housing renovation fundlisted Minakova as the head of its administrative and legal support department.Khinshtein provided no further details about Minakovas arrest and the regional branch of Russias Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, did not report any arrests on corruption charges last week, as it usually does in similar criminal cases.Minakovas arrest came a week after Khinshteins predecessor Alexei Smirnov was charged with fraud.
Smirnovs former deputy was also arrested on the same charges.Smirnov, who briefly served as acting Kursk region governor before being replaced by Khinshtein in December, was accused of embezzling 1 billion rubles ($12.17 million) from public funds that were meant to be used for defense fortifications along the border with Ukraine.Several months into Smirnovs tenure, Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region.
Russias Defense Ministry said it fully beat back the Ukrainian offensive over the weekend.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Sunday that his army was still fighting in parts of the border region.