District official in Kursk region resigns amid blame for failing to evacuate locals ahead of Ukrainian incursion
After months of resisting calls to step down, Marina Degtyareva resigned on Wednesday from her post as the head of the Kursk region’s Korenevsky district. She faced intense criticism for her district’s failure to organize timely evacuations ahead of Ukraine’s surprise incursion in August 2024. Degtyareva made the announcement during an emergency district council conference call, passing her responsibilities to her deputy, Vladimir Zhilinkov.
In November 2024, more than 2,000 residents signed a petition demanding Degtyareva’s resignation, claiming a loss of public trust and professional incompetence. The pressure led Alexey Smirnov, Kursk’s governor at the time, to urge Degtyareva to resign, but she refused. Last month, Smirnov’s replacement, Alexander Khinshtein, said he wouldn’t make the same request of Degtyareva, arguing that such a concession to petitioners would “reek of Maidan.”
Last fall, residents of the Kursk region’s Sudzhansky district also successfully lobbied for the ouster of their top administrator, Alexander Bogachev, whom many also held responsible for failing to organize evacuations ahead of Ukraine’s incursion. For his part, Bogachev said he was dismissed because the authorities needed a scapegoat. “Someone has to take the fall. Unfortunately, that’s how it always is here,” he said.
