Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has dismissed Russiaʼs Kursk Oblast Governor Alexei Smirnov and appointed Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the State Duma, as acting head of the oblast. This is the second change in the oblast's leadership in a year, caused by the "chaos" following the Ukrainian offensive and the failed defence.

Source: Russian media outlets The Moscow Times and Verstka; Kremlin website

Details: The text of the decree, published on the Kremlin's official website, states that Smirnov wrote a letter of resignation.

However, Verstka sources report that Smirnov was dismissed because of the "chaos" in the oblast's governance that arose after the Ukrainian armed forces entered Kursk Oblast in August 2024 and took control of hundreds of Russian settlements.

Verstka sources said that the Kremlin began looking for a replacement for Smirnov in early November, but Alexander Khinshtein's candidacy was agreed upon just the day before.

The main problems that Smirnov failed to deal with were the dissatisfaction and protests from displaced people from the areas controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and conflicts with the heads of municipalities whom the governor failed to dismiss.

At the same time, local officials claim that another reason for Smirnov's resignation is the construction of defensive structures on the border with Ukraine, which "did not work at a critical moment".  

At the meeting with Khinshtein, Putin said that his experience, including as an advisor to the director of the National Guard Forces Command of the Russian Federation in 2016-2018, makes him a suitable candidate for "crisis management" in "the situation in which Kursk Oblast is now".

The Kremlin leader also added that the acting governor would have to address a number of priority tasks, including restoring housing and communal services, the economy and providing aid to the population. 

Verstka recalls that for four months now, Russian troops have been unable to drive the Ukrainian army out of the border areas of Kursk Oblast, which they took control of as part of an offensive that began on 6 August.

Russian authorities estimate the cost of economic recovery after the invasion to be RUB 700 billion (approx.US$7 million).  

For reference: Khinshtein is considered one of the most influential members of the State Duma. He is the author of laws such as the ban on LGBT propaganda, the mandatory indication of the status of a terrorist organisation, laws on the "grounding" of IT companies in Russia, and banning advertising in undesirable organisations.

Read: Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi's raid: how the Ukrainian offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast is progressing and what to expect next

Background: 

• The Ukrainian operation in Russia’s Kursk Oblast began on 6 August. 
• On 10 August, on the fifth day of the operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine had pushed the war onto the aggressor's soil.
• On 6 November, Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, summing up the results of the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk Oblast over three months, said that Russian troops had lost more than 20,000 soldiers killed and wounded in this area.
• "For almost three months of the operation, as of 5 November 2024, the enemy's losses on the Kursk front in personnel amount to 20,842 people, of which 7,905 have been killed, 12,220 wounded, and 717 captured," Syrskyi said. 

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