Former Deputy Governor of Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, Konstantin Polozhaev, who was sentenced for bribery, died in a drone strike in a combat zone.
Polozhaev, former mayor of Belgorod and deputy governor of the region, was killed while en route from pre-trial detention to a strict-regime corrective labor camp, where he had been sentenced to five years in prison for corruption-related offenses.
The court handed down its verdict in August 2024. It found that Polozhaev accepted two luxury vehicles worth 18 million rubles from a construction company executive in exchange for awarding lucrative project contracts. Additionally, he allegedly used funds from the Housing Utilities Reform Foundation and the Center for Ecological Safety to launder budget money.
Beyond the five-year sentence, Polozhaev was also fined 36 million rubles. Prior to his arrest, he had served as mayor of Belgorod for four years before overseeing regional housing utilities. In summer 2023, he was dismissed amid controversy over his failure to repair infrastructure in Shebekino and Novotavrovlanka following artillery attacks.
Polozhaev never reached the corrective labor camp. Instead, he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense, leaving custody to join the “Seal” unit based in Belgorod. Recently, he was fatally wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike.
Timur Ivanov, former First Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, also sought to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense to serve as a frontline assault soldier, but remains detained in prison.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1877029549579396/
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