Defense waiver: how contracts for the defense of the Bryansk region were distributed
The investigation found a "huge difference" in the number of funded and actually installed defensive fortifications on the border of the Bryansk region with Ukraine, a source familiar with the investigation told Izvestia. In addition, according to the case file, the contractors used inferior quality concrete during their construction than was stated in the design documentation, the source added. According to him, these facts were the reason for the detention of the vice-governor of the Bryansk region, Nikolai Simonenko, who oversaw the construction of fortifications. He is suspected of embezzlement. If the charges are proven, he faces up to ten years in prison, lawyers say. The measure of restraint for Symonenko will be chosen in the coming days. How much was spent on the defense of the region and how the contracts were distributed is in the Izvestia material.
Why was the vice-governor of the Bryansk region detained?
A criminal case has been opened against the vice-governor of the Bryansk region, Nikolai Simonenko. He was arrested on July 22, and his home and workplace were searched.
Nikolay Simonenko
"Symonenko's house was searched as part of an investigation into embezzlement during the construction of defensive fortifications in the border region," sources told Izvestia. "An expert examination was carried out, and it was found that a large amount of construction work was carried out only on paper."
The case is being handled by the Investigative Department of the Russian Interior Ministry, law enforcement sources told Izvestia.
According to the case file, the documentation of the state order stated one grade of concrete for the construction of fortifications, and another was used — much cheaper, another source told Izvestia. According to him, the number of funded and actually installed defensive structures also did not converge.
"The difference in their number is enormous," he stressed.
Among the defensive barriers being erected in the Bryansk region were, in particular, the so-called "dragon's teeth". As military expert Alexei Leonkov explained to Izvestia, if they are installed correctly and in sufficient quantity, they can stop any existing armored vehicles.
"Dragon's Teeth" are pyramid—shaped concrete fortifications that are placed along the entire line of contact. They are a development of the idea of anti-tank "hedgehogs", which were used during the Great Patriotic War.
They prevent the advance of both heavy and light armored vehicles and make it easier to destroy them.
Inspections regarding the spending of funds on defensive fortifications in the territories bordering Ukraine began after the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation, the source added.
— Officials have already been detained in the Kursk and Belgorod regions. Now we have reached Bryansk," he said.
In March 2025, the prosecutor's office of the Bryansk region filed lawsuits with the regional Arbitration Court with claims for the construction of fortifications. In them, she demands to invalidate certain provisions of the agreements concluded with Vodokanal Dubrovsky and Stroycom companies, to collect penalties from them of more than 2 million and almost 5 million rubles, respectively, and to seize the companies' accounts.
The Department of Capital Construction of the Bryansk Region is among the defendants.
Izvestia analyzed data from the register of EIS contracts in the field of procurement. In particular, the register contains four contracts for the connection of fortifications to the electric grid in the border areas of the Bryansk region. The customer was the regional Capital Construction Department. The contracts were concluded in the period from March 21 to April 3, 2024 for a total amount of 12.5 million rubles. The registry states that the execution of all four contracts has been terminated, which means that they were terminated by agreement of the parties.
Who is Nikolai Simonenko?
In the administration of the Bryansk region, Nikolai Simonenko coordinated issues of industry, transport, communications, physical education and sports.
Nikolay Simonenko was born in 1959 in the village of Glinnoye, Bryansk region.
After graduating from high school, since 1976 he worked as a tractor driver, foreman of the tractor brigade of the Dalny state farm in the Klintsovsky district.
In 1980, he graduated from the Bryansk Agricultural College for the training of managers of collective farms and state farms, and in 1986 from the Belarusian Agricultural Academy with a degree in Agronomy.
According to information on income, expenses and property of Nikolay Simonenko and his wife for January–December 2021, his declared annual income amounted to 4.28 million rubles, his wife — 212.6 thousand rubles. He also owns a residential building with an area of 191.7 square meters, a land plot of 1.1 thousand square meters, a Mercedes-Benz S500 4MAT passenger car, a Peugeot Partner cargo van and a Sova ZDK 4.105 motorcycle.
Nikolay Simonenko
Simonenko's wife owned an apartment of 47.1 sq. m. m.
What could be the punishment for Simonenko?
If during the investigation it is established that Nikolai Simonenko, as vice-governor, contributed to the embezzlement of budget funds or signed fictitious documents, he could face up to ten years in prison, Viktor Bondyakov, president of the Moscow Bar Association Bondyakov and Partners, told Izvestia.
"But by analogy with cases in other regions, the investigation may consider the actions of not one official, but a group with a division of roles and more difficult qualifications," the expert added.
In this case, according to him, a qualifying feature will be added to the article — fraud on a particularly large scale as part of an organized group.
"This circumstance is considered aggravating," Viktor Bondyakov emphasized.
Lawyer Albert Khaleyan noted that the amount of damage will be a key factor in choosing a preventive measure.
"This is clearly a serious crime case," the expert emphasized.
But the grounds for detention may not coincide with the final charge, and the investigation has the right to reclassify the criminal article, for example, to abuse of authority, if it finds new evidence, Albert Khaleyan said.
Who else was detained for problems with protective structures
In April 2025, Alexey Smirnov, ex-governor of the Kursk Region, and Alexey Dedov, his first deputy, were charged with fraud in the amount of more than 1 billion rubles. According to investigators, they, together with the leadership of the Kursk Region Development Corporation (KRCO), organized the embezzlement of budget funds allocated for the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine.
Smirnov and Dedov are currently in jail.
During the investigation, it was established that the defendants in the case managed the members of an organized group and, together with the leadership of the KRKO, organized the embezzlement of budget funds.
Alexey Smirnov
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, from 2022 to 2023, 19.4 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget to the government of the region for the construction of structures in order to "protect the country from the military aggression of Ukraine."
Since October 2022, a special regime for the functioning of government bodies has been introduced in the region. It is possible to make purchases without conducting auction procedures.
According to the investigation, on the instructions of Alexei Smirnov, the Kursk Region Development Corporation, established by the regional government, became the general contractor for the construction of fortifications. The management of the organization independently formed a list of main contractors and distributed among them the types of work on the construction of protective structures, "and also made decisions on the payment of contracts alone."
Roman Starovoit, the former governor of the region and former Minister of Transport of Russia, was also involved in the theft of fortifications in the regions bordering Ukraine, in particular in the Kursk region, according to the Investigative Committee. On July 7, the day he was dismissed from his last position, he committed suicide.
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