Large-scale Raids By Looters Continue In Russia's Kursk Region

6.07.2025, 5:00
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The authorities are powerless.

Large-scale raids by looters continue in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation. What is happening in the Russian border region and why the authorities are powerless, says "Novaya Gazeta. Europe".

Last week, a local military police chief, Alexei Zharov, died in the Sujansk district of Russia's Kursk region, previously partially occupied by the Ukrainian army. According to Alexander Khinstein, he was killed while trying to apprehend looters operating in the war-torn area:

"Alexei served in Korenevsky, then Glushkovsky and Sujansky districts. Helped the residents who remained in the border area. Even in the most difficult moments, he showed genuine care and humanity," the official wrote.

Khinstein did not reveal any details of the murder, who the looters were, how many there were and what they were armed with, but noted that the suspects have been detained. However, there will likely be no public trial, as the Kremlin has been careful to keep quiet on the subject of uncontrolled looting, and law enforcement agencies have ignored what is going on.

Zharov was known to many in the border region. As head of the military police, he regularly traveled to the "gray zone" and was probably well acquainted with the problems there. Local residents turned to the military police, where Zharov served, when they found their houses looted, even though there were no enemy troops in their villages. Investigating and preventing such crimes is one of the functions of the military police.

A deputy of the regional Duma Zolotarev said that "many residents of border areas remember his [Zharov's] selfless help to civilians." Other officials, including Khinstein, also speak enthusiastically of the deceased, but they all remain stubbornly silent about his "professional biography." Only Z-blogger Anna Dolgareva dared to tell about Zharov's life and career:

"Today my acquaintance, a military police captain with the call sign Zhara, died. It was with him we were running around Suja. He was an interesting man. Served in the police. He was in jail. Got out through Wagner. He fought in the assaults. He was reinstated in rank (captain), went to the military police. He was brave, cheerful and handsome," she said.

For what the dead officer was convicted, Dolgareva does not write. However, according to another interlocutor, a Kursk activist who wished to remain anonymous, Zharov was not at all the hero that Khinshtein and Zolotarev portray him to be: "Zharov is one of the leaders of organized looting in the Korenevsky district and a harbinger of the murder of civilians who oppose such activities. That's all I'm ready to say about him at the moment," said the interlocutor.

But propagandists have already rushed to put the name of the deceased on the shield: after Zharov's tragic death, the Rossiya 24 TV channel even showed a six-minute story where the presenters pay all sorts of honors to the deceased and even suggest naming a street after him. At the same time, the propagandists do not say a word about his criminal record and do not even try to explain how it happened that a military police officer dies in broad daylight at the hands of unknown looters. And all this is happening on the territory that has been controlled by the Russian army for months.

From gold to microwaves

In the opinion of Kursk blogger Vladimir Sinelnikov, the local authorities and the military are either involved in the theft of property themselves or simply turn a blind eye to it. Sinelnikov previously accused the head of the Korenevsky district, Marina Degtyareva, whom local residents have repeatedly asked to resign, of complicity and cover-up.

Sinelnikov told Lenta.ru that looters feel at ease in Russia's border regions: "It is quite easy to get through there. The area is controlled only at key points. You can slip through."

Sinelnikov said that looters can return to the scene of the crime several times and are often caught on camera:

"There are mass cases of looting. The head of the district Pavel Zolotarev spoke about Glushkovsky district. Korenevsky district was much talked about in social networks. I have dozens of video recordings from surveillance cameras in stores, at gas stations, which testify to this", - says the blogger.

"In Tetkino and Popovo-Lezhachy houses, barns, cellars, garages are all opened, every single one. Once everyone was laughing at the Khokhls, their microwaves, toilets, etc., now it's no longer funny," - the victim of looters Sergei D shares with "Novaya-Europe" in correspondence.

The first time about mass robberies in Kursk region began in August 2024, when two Chechens cleaned out the branch of "Megafon" in Glushkovo. Another case occurred in the village of Zvannoye, where soldiers twice robbed the Wildberries marketplace's order delivery point. At first, the Russian authorities called such reports "enemy information," but as people returned to their homes, it became clear that looters had entered almost every house. It had to be officially admitted that the numerous rumors were true, and that "not only civilians, but also military men" of the Russian army were behind the attacks on the houses of Sujan and Korenev residents. In November, residents of border villages, outraged by the scale of the thefts, even appealed to Putin with a request to restore justice:

"In Korenevo, there has not been any AFU troops for a single day, but all the stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and surviving residential houses have been opened and looted. <�...> People have personally seen how men in military uniform opened houses, shot dogs, entered houses, stores, pharmacies, warehouses and took out property," their appeal said.

Marauding has already become the norm. This fact is extremely inconvenient for the Russian authorities, because only a few cases are punished for dozens and hundreds of confirmed cases. Only in January this year, the Kursk Garrison Military Court passed the first sentence in a case of looting in the Kursk region. Military officer Stanislav Lopatin was found guilty under part 1 of article 356.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. On January 23, another soldier - Nikita Sobolev - was convicted for looting on a large scale with the use of violence. And right now in Kursk an investigation is underway against five storm troopers who robbed houses and killed a fellow soldier when he decided to flee the front.

"Looting" from impunity, locals believe

"If from the very beginning, back in August last year, any of the military were publicly punished for this, there would be no such lawlessness, but because everyone is silent, everything is fine everywhere, and it turns out as it turns out. No one will find the guilty parties and no one will look for anyone. <�...> They pay little, no one canceled the trophies ... for looting no one was not involved, so the bosses are in the share, allows," - complains in the district chat local resident Tatiana.

According to Valery, an interlocutor from Kursk region, looting is a mass phenomenon, "the military, including the commandant's office, as well as 'volunteers' are engaged in it," he says, alluding to the fact that looters sneak into destroyed areas under various pretexts: for example, they return to check on their own house, but in the meantime they break into a neighbor's. Despite the fact that the war came to the Kursk region almost a year ago, there is still something to loot:

"In different waves of looting, different property is taken out. At first it was compact valuables like gold, but gradually they started to take everything, from tools to household appliances. They also steal livestock and antiques, antiques, and organized the sale of stolen goods in Rylsk," explains Valery.

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Large-scale Raids By Looters Continue In Russia's Kursk Region

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