Since Putin Came to Power, 32 Governors have Been Charged with Crimes

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 10 – Becoming the head of a federal subject in the Russian Federation is a high-risk step. As Kommersant reports, since 2000, 32 governors have been charged with crimes, 21 while still in office, and 19 were brought to trial. The rest had their cases dismissed, often because of the statute of limitations (kommersant.ru/doc/7659367).

            The Horizontal Russia portal has now analyzed these cases in detail and highlighted that Moscow has brought charges both against those who are most loyal to it and those who are not (semnasem.org/articles/2025/07/10/bystro-zhestko-i-bez-lishnih-santimentov-kak-ustroeno-presledovanie-gubernatorov-i-drugih-upravlencev-v-rossii).

            Such moves against governors, the portal suggests are designed to reenforce the popular view that those involved in politics are bribetakers or otherwise corrupt, a stereotype which “reduces the motivation to take part in elections” and even to follow what is going on in the political system below the level of the president.

            Moscow divides regional heads “into two categories,” Horizontal Russia says, those who are loyal to the central authorities and those who oppose or have offended them. The Kremlin treats them differently: charging the former only when the crimes can’t be ignored but feeling free to bring charges for lesser crimes in the case of the latter.

            “Since his first term,” the portal continues, “Vladimir Putin has sought to limit the influence of mayors and governors because he understands that … they can be independent of the Kremlin even if they show complete support for the federal authorities.” Moscow has the same view of business leaders in the regions.

            To limit its problems with such people, the Kremlin has eliminated genuine elections for governors and created a governors’ school to weed out those who might become problematic. But criminal charges remain the last line of defense, one the Kremlin is quite prepared to use. And governors understand this implicitly.

            To ensure that they do, the Horizontal Russia portal says, Moscow will continue to bring criminal charges against governors on a regular basis, no matter how loyal such people may appear to be.