Russian authorities detained Alexei Smirnov, governor in Kursk at the time of Ukrainian incursion who put Putin in an embarrassing position
Dialogue of August 8, 2024 between Vladimir Putin and Alexei Smirnov, at that time the governor of the region, who informed the Russian president about the situation in Kursk, recently targeted by an Ukrainian offensive. Credit: Gavriil Grigorov / AP / Profimedia
Former governor of the Kursk region of Russia, Alexei Smirnov, was detained on Wednesday under the supply of fraud, the TASS State Press Agency reported, according to Reuters.
Smirnov was leading the region of western Russia when Ukrainian troops entered it in a large-scale incursion in August 2024, considered the largest attack on Russian territory after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Meanwhile, Russian forces have managed to reject most of the Ukrainian forces in the region.
Alexei Smirnov was the governor of the Kursk region during May-December 2024, when he was replaced by Alexander Khinstein.
The former governor was detained with his deputy from that moment, Alexei Dedov.
Smirnov gave assurances that the situation in Kursk was under control
In the first hours of the Ukrainian incursion of August 2024, Alexei Smirnov repeatedly stated that the situation is under control, even if the Russian groups were taken by surprise and were left behind or forced to withdraw.
A few days later, Smirnov was publicly rebuked by Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a television meeting, because in his report he focused on the military situation rather than to support civilians in the Kursk region.
Ukraine, who intended to use the situation in Kursk as a lever in possible negotiations, argued that the Russian forces were supported by about 11,000 North Korean soldiers. Moscow and Phenian refused to provide details about the North Korean military presence in the area.
Last week, the regional authorities claimed that Moscow is about to regain the control in Kursk, regaining the town of Guyevo and thus rejecting the Ukrainian forces from one of the last positions they held there.
At the same time, the Russian forces began to gain ground in the Ukrainian region of Sumî, where two Russian rockets hit the city center right on Sunday of Flowers, in an attack on the deaths of 35 civilians and the injury of over 110, according to the balance transmitted by The Kyiv Independent.
On Wednesday, the Russian army attacked Odessa, a port city to the Black Sea, one day after the visit there by Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
