Aleksej Smirnov and Aleksej Dedov were responsible for the region when Ukrainian troops stormed across the border in August last year and carried out the largest attack on Russian territory since World War II.
The two men were arrested "as part of a criminal investigation into the embezzlement of budget funds totaling over one billion rubles", according to a spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of the Interior. According to this, the money was directed to a state developer "for the construction of fortifications along the region's border with Ukraine".
Smirnov was the governor of the region between May and December 2024 and was criticized for his handling of the Ukrainian attack – when he claimed to the residents that the situation was under control despite Ukraine capturing territory.
President Vladimir Putin replaced Smirnov with the Kremlin-friendly Alexander Chinsjtein and claimed that the residents had expressed anger over the handling of the attack and that the region needed a new crisis manager.
Ukrainian forces captured hundreds of square kilometers of territory in the attack, but Russia has since retaken most of it.
