Law enforcement authorities in the Kursk region of southwestern Russia have conducted a search of the business of regional lawmaker Maxim Vasilyev. This search was related to reported defense failures that Ukrainian forces were able to exploit during a cross-border incursion in the region in August. Ukrainian forces surprised the area by breaching two lines of defensive fortifications that were reported to have cost 15 billion rubles and took nearly three years to construct. Vasilyev, who was not personally charged with any crimes, confirmed that police searched the organization where he works as part of an investigation into the defense fortifications in the border region.
Details surrounding the police searches were not entirely clear, with Vasilyev and the Telegram news channel, Plokhaya Kuryanochka, providing some information. The searches were related to the Kursk region’s maintenance fund as well as several firms connected to the lawmaker. The investigation seemed to be targeting civilian contractors, with concerns raised about the lack of transparency in revealing the truth about defense construction efforts. Vasilyev criticized film director Nikita Mikhalkov for bringing attention to the defense failures, accusing him of hyping up the situation. Mikhalkov had claimed that local officials had embezzled the funds allocated for the construction of defense fortifications.
Maxim Vasilyev had previously faced criticism after a video of him celebrating the New Year at a beach resort in Mexico went viral. In response to the scandal, he had pledged to volunteer for the Russian military in Ukraine. Vasilyev has since returned to work in the Kursk region and expressed his willingness to cooperate with the police investigation into the defense fortifications. The situation highlights tensions and controversy surrounding the handling of defense infrastructure and funds in the region, particularly in the wake of the Ukrainian incursion that exposed vulnerabilities in the border defenses. Vasilyev’s involvement in the investigation and his past actions have also attracted public scrutiny and criticism.
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