Former Deputy Governor Who Planned to Fight in Ukraine Sentenced to 14 Years for Military Supply Theft
A Russian court has sentenced former Krasnodar region deputy governor Vlasov to 14 years in prison for abuse of authority and organizing the theft of supplies meant for troops fighting in Ukraine. He was arrested the day after resigning to announce plans to join the fight himself.
A court in Russia's Krasnodar region has sentenced a former deputy governor to 14 years in prison for abuse of authority and organizing the theft of supplies intended for troops fighting in Ukraine, according to the regional courts' press service.
Vlasov stepped down as deputy governor of Krasnodar in September 2025, announcing he would join the Kuban brigade fighting in Ukraine. He was arrested the following day. In addition to the prison term, he was fined 1 million rubles (about $11,900) and barred from holding managerial or administrative government positions for three years. Vlasov had also headed the Kuban Cossack Host.
His adviser, Alexander Starodubtsev, was sentenced to six years for fraud, along with the same fine and a two-and-a-half-year employment ban. Both men will serve their terms in general-regime penal colonies. The verdict has not yet taken legal effect.
The court found that the Cossack organization received a 100 million ruble (about $1.19 million) government subsidy in August 2022 to purchase supplies for the BARS-1, BARS-11, BARS-16 and other units fighting in Ukraine. Between August and December that year, it bought uniforms, protective gear and other equipment worth 57.75 million rubles, but failed to deliver the goods by the deadline.
Acting on Vlasov's instructions, Starodubtsev stole goods worth roughly 2.31 million rubles, intending to sell them through the online classifieds site Avito — including belts, gloves, raincoats, boots and socks. Investigators recovered the stolen items from his home. In early 2023, he also took goods worth 347,868 rubles that had been incorrectly logged as delivered, keeping them at home until they were seized by law enforcement.
The court found that Vlasov had ordered employees of the Cossack organization and military unit representatives to falsify delivery records to conceal the theft. One BARS unit member testified that he signed off on a delivery document for about 20 million rubles worth of goods on Vlasov's instruction despite never receiving them. The witness said shortages of uniforms, drones and other equipment had prevented units from fully carrying out combat tasks.
