Russia’s loss of control over some border areas in the Kursk Region did not prevent the authorities from holding mayoral and gubernatorial “elections.” The vote, which lasted 12 days instead of three, ended in victory for Alexei Smirnov, the incumbent interim governor, who took home an official 65.28%. Authorities announced a record turnout at the election — more than 61% of residents. But as The Insider’s correspondent found out, locals were not particularly enthusiastic about the process: they neither trust the incumbent officials nor believe in the possibility of replacing them with alternative candidates at the polls. The distrust is unsurprising, considering that the state has recently failed to provide them with defense, evacuation, or even a missile warning system.
The names have been changed to protect identities.
“The remote class continued during the air raid — the children were told to hide in bathrooms with their phones”
An air defense missile takes off from the roof of a three-story building in Kursk and stays visible for a few seconds before leaving behind a nearly vertical smoke trail, like that of an airplane. Mere seconds later, we hear the explosion, muffled and somewhat muted. Passers-by do not even react. Some thirty seconds later, the air raid siren finally goes off.
“It’ll go quiet soon. The alerts are usually short,” a young woman with a stroller says to me, smiling as she walks by. We are in the city center, not far from Gymnasium 25, the public school that hit the news on the first day of voting, Sep. 6. The school walls have been covered with sandbags, and several concrete blocks are protecting the entrance.
Alexander Rutskoy served as head of the Kursk Region administration from 1996 to 2001. A native of Ukraine, a Hero of the USSR, and the only vice president in the history of post-Soviet Russia, he supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A year later, however, he condemned the actions of the Russian army against Ukrainian civilians, called the invasion “nonsense” and accused Putin, “the one who arranged it all,” of treason. Later, he also called the invasion of Ukraine a “tragedy.” Alexander Mikhaylov succeeded Rutskoy as head of the region in 2000, when the incumbent was not allowed to run for election. Mikhaylov’s governorship began with an anti-Semitic scandal: he accused his predecessor of “Jewry” and claimed that he had now defeated Berezovsky and the figurative “all-Russian Jewish congress” behind his back. He also said that after Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, “Russia will begin to be liberated from all this filth that has accumulated over ten years.” As a result, Mikhaylov was reprimanded by the President’s Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal District and was forced to apologize to Rutskoy.
Air defense missile launch from a rooftop in the center of Kursk
In Russia, schools are traditionally used as polling stations during elections. However, other educational institutions cannot boast such fortifications — some have only had their windows sealed with impact-resistant film to prevent injuries from glass shards in the event of an explosion. The chair of the polling station commission cannot explain why this particular school is lucky enough to have such serious defenses. “We as commission members had nothing to do with it. It was probably done for safety.”
At this polling station, the turnout on the first day is higher than in the days of early voting, the chair says. Unlike other regions, where regional elections were held on Sep. 6-8, in Kursk Region early voting opened on Aug. 28, bringing the total period to 12 days. The decision was motivated by the need to accommodate the thousands of refugees who left the border region after the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) incursion began on Aug. 6. As a result, Kursk Region is among the turnout leaders nationwide — even if enthusiasm on the ground is not exactly apparent. One or two voters walk in every minute or so.
“I don’t expect anything from the election. What’s the point if you expect one thing but get something entirely different?” a man in his 60s reasons on his way out of the station. “I always vote Communist. I don’t particularly believe anything will change.”
Alexander Rutskoy served as head of the Kursk Region administration from 1996 to 2001. A native of Ukraine, a Hero of the USSR, and the only vice president in the history of post-Soviet Russia, he supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A year later, however, he condemned the actions of the Russian army against Ukrainian civilians, called the invasion “nonsense” and accused Putin, “the one who arranged it all,” of treason. Later, he also called the invasion of Ukraine a “tragedy.” Alexander Mikhaylov succeeded Rutskoy as head of the region in 2000, when the incumbent was not allowed to run for election. Mikhaylov’s governorship began with an anti-Semitic scandal: he accused his predecessor of “Jewry” and claimed that he had now defeated Berezovsky and the figurative “all-Russian Jewish congress” behind his back. He also said that after Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, “Russia will begin to be liberated from all this filth that has accumulated over ten years.” As a result, Mikhaylov was reprimanded by the President’s Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal District and was forced to apologize to Rutskoy.
Gymnasium No. 25 and sandbags in the yard
As the siren wails, the voting continues. No one descends to the shelter on the underground level — unlike in Belgorod, where during the presidential election in March all electoral commission members, police, EMERCOM, and voters rushed to safety when warnings sounded.
“We are getting far fewer sirens than in mid-August, and the blasts are also less frequent,” says Elena, the owner of the apartment on the outskirts of Kursk where I’m staying. She is not going to vote. “It’s scary, like the calm before the storm. We were nervous, waiting for them to pummel us more during the election. What’s it for, anyway? People are in the middle of a disaster. All that money would be better spent on helping them. Otherwise, they can only hope for some 400,000-500,000 rubles [$4,400-5,500], which is barely enough for a good fence, certainly not a house.”
There are only a handful of vacant apartments in Kursk, as the city has been flooded with refugees from the border areas.
Alexander Rutskoy served as head of the Kursk Region administration from 1996 to 2001. A native of Ukraine, a Hero of the USSR, and the only vice president in the history of post-Soviet Russia, he supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A year later, however, he condemned the actions of the Russian army against Ukrainian civilians, called the invasion “nonsense” and accused Putin, “the one who arranged it all,” of treason. Later, he also called the invasion of Ukraine a “tragedy.” Alexander Mikhaylov succeeded Rutskoy as head of the region in 2000, when the incumbent was not allowed to run for election. Mikhaylov’s governorship began with an anti-Semitic scandal: he accused his predecessor of “Jewry” and claimed that he had now defeated Berezovsky and the figurative “all-Russian Jewish congress” behind his back. He also said that after Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, “Russia will begin to be liberated from all this filth that has accumulated over ten years.” As a result, Mikhaylov was reprimanded by the President’s Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal District and was forced to apologize to Rutskoy.
The graffiti reads “Za mir” – “for peace,” but with the Russian war symbol “Z”
“You be careful in the evenings, there are a lot of strangers in the city right now. It feels like more and more refugees are coming. There are all sorts of people, you know,” Elena warns me before taking off to her place next door, where two young children are waiting. “During air raid alerts, they are supposed to interrupt classes. But this time, the class continued during the air raid — the children were told to hide in bathrooms with their phones. He is sitting in his English class right now in the bathroom,” she says. Daycare centers in Kursk are mostly closed. “The kids sit in a basement or some kind of shelter virtually all the time. But I’m scared to leave my kid there.”
That evening, and on the days that follow, I join the tenants of the building to watch Ka-52 and Mi-28 helicopters fly by in the distance. With the windows facing the military airfield, we get a front-row view of the ‘air show.’ Helicopters no longer fly over Kursk itself, as they did in August. Instead, they keep moving from one base to another at very low altitudes.
Alexander Rutskoy served as head of the Kursk Region administration from 1996 to 2001. A native of Ukraine, a Hero of the USSR, and the only vice president in the history of post-Soviet Russia, he supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A year later, however, he condemned the actions of the Russian army against Ukrainian civilians, called the invasion “nonsense” and accused Putin, “the one who arranged it all,” of treason. Later, he also called the invasion of Ukraine a “tragedy.” Alexander Mikhaylov succeeded Rutskoy as head of the region in 2000, when the incumbent was not allowed to run for election. Mikhaylov’s governorship began with an anti-Semitic scandal: he accused his predecessor of “Jewry” and claimed that he had now defeated Berezovsky and the figurative “all-Russian Jewish congress” behind his back. He also said that after Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, “Russia will begin to be liberated from all this filth that has accumulated over ten years.” As a result, Mikhaylov was reprimanded by the President’s Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal District and was forced to apologize to Rutskoy.
LDPR election billboard, Sep. 6, 2024
In the streets, election campaign advertisements remain despite a ban on displaying such materials during the vote. A huge billboard for the systemic opposition Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) still hangs in the very center of Kursk. The last time I visited, the LDPR made a splash by distributing humanitarian aid in branded blue-and-yellow bags at a humanitarian service point on Belinskogo Street.
Alexander Rutskoy served as head of the Kursk Region administration from 1996 to 2001. A native of Ukraine, a Hero of the USSR, and the only vice president in the history of post-Soviet Russia, he supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A year later, however, he condemned the actions of the Russian army against Ukrainian civilians, called the invasion “nonsense” and accused Putin, “the one who arranged it all,” of treason. Later, he also called the invasion of Ukraine a “tragedy.” Alexander Mikhaylov succeeded Rutskoy as head of the region in 2000, when the incumbent was not allowed to run for election. Mikhaylov’s governorship began with an anti-Semitic scandal: he accused his predecessor of “Jewry” and claimed that he had now defeated Berezovsky and the figurative “all-Russian Jewish congress” behind his back. He also said that after Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, “Russia will begin to be liberated from all this filth that has accumulated over ten years.” As a result, Mikhaylov was reprimanded by the President’s Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal District and was forced to apologize to Rutskoy.