UlanMedia, March 31
Ex-Deputy PM of Buryatia Arrested for $1.1M Bridge Project Fraud
Yevgeny Luknovnikov, the former deputy prime minister of Buryatia, has been arrested on fraud charges after more than 98 million rubles ($1.1 million) were embezzled during the design phase of a third bridge across the Uda River. Detained in Moscow in March, he was later transferred to Ulan-Ude and remains in pretrial custody until nearly summer. This is not just another corruption case involving a regional official—it raises serious questions about the quality of personnel policy in Buryatia's executive branch and the transparency of major infrastructure projects, even those initiated at the federal level.
Coming just ahead of the September 2026 State Duma elections, this high-profile scandal—implicating a figure from the inner circle of Buryatia's head, Alexey Tsydenov—is far from the first "personnel misstep" by the region's top official to take on a distinctly political dimension.
Recall that in 2023, Tsydenov himself had already acknowledged as a mistake his decision to transfer a State Duma mandate to Nikolai Buduev. The latter, in essence, received his "United Russia party-list seat" from the republic's leader following the 2021 Duma elections, in which Tsydenov had topped the regional ticket for the ruling party. The original plan, it seemed, was for Buduev to advocate for Buryatia's consolidated interests at the federal level. Yet within a short time, the United Russia lawmaker shifted into open opposition on key issues backed by the republic's authorities—matters directly affecting voters along Lake Baikal's shores. Tsydenov's public admission of error at the time coincided with heated debates over wastewater infrastructure projects in the Barguzin District.
Luknovnikov joined Buryatia's government in November 2017, shortly after Tsydenov assumed office as regional head. His candidacy for deputy prime minister was later submitted for approval to the People's Khural by Tsydenov himself. Both men had previously worked in railway transport: Luknovnikov served as deputy head of Roszheldor (Russia's Federal Rail Transport Agency), while Tsydenov led the agency before overseeing the sector at Russia's Ministry of Transport. Within the republic's government, Luknovnikov was seen as an "outsider"—a professional brought in from outside who quickly secured a key position. After his arrest, however, Tsydenov expressed regret: "He was the most trusted, a truly trusted person. I personally invited him from Moscow as a construction specialist."
As deputy chairman, Luknovnikov oversaw critical sectors: heating and power supply, wastewater disposal, and treatment facilities. He claimed his primary goal was to ensure the uninterrupted operation of infrastructure in the harsh Siberian climate. Under his supervision, construction began on the third bridge—a project initiated by Vladimir Putin, though notably plagued by repeated delays in its completion timeline. In 2025, the contract with the contractor, JSC Khotkovsky Avtomost, was terminated. Meanwhile, it emerged that Luknovnikov had simultaneously served as an advisor to the same company—a clear conflict of interest under any standard.
Investigators allege that between July 2018 and December 2019, Luknovnikov and Svetlana Mikhailova, the head of the contracting commercial organization, conspired to defraud a municipal institution. By falsifying documents for supposedly completed design work that had never been carried out, they embezzled over 98 million rubles. Both remain in custody pending trial, as the court ruling has not yet entered into legal force.
Following his arrest, it was revealed that Luknovnikov had concealed parts of his professional history when applying for his position. Prosecutors found that he had failed to disclose prior employment at three organizations involved in major infrastructure projects. Additionally, he did not reveal that an affiliate still worked at two of these firms, nor did he provide full details about the income and assets of his minor child—one of his five children. Due to these violations, at the prosecutor's request, the Sovetskiy District Court of Ulan-Ude reclassified his dismissal from "resignation at his own request" to the more damning "termination due to loss of trust."
Alexey Tsydenov, the republic's top official, reacted sharply: "What are people even thinking? And how are they thinking? These are not the times when you can hide anything."
While Tsydenov's impassioned remark is hard to argue with, it's worth noting that careful consideration is just as vital in personnel policy—especially when decisions determine who will represent the republic's interests at the federal level and who will competently manage budgetary processes in capital-intensive infrastructure projects.
Luknovnikov's case is far from isolated. His arrest follows a string of high-profile detentions within Buryatia's government in recent times. Together, these incidents underscore a troubling pattern: a system of appointments without adequate risk assessment can create fertile ground for abuse.
For his part, the republic's leader acknowledging the fallout from personnel blunders—and publicly expressing disappointment in the performance of his appointed officials—is unlikely to offset the missed opportunities for the region's development, improve Buryatia's national image, or reverse its poor federal rankings in budgetary discipline. Most importantly, it will do little to justify voters' trust ahead of the next federal elections at a time of deep uncertainty for the country. This is especially true given that Tsydenov himself recently reiterated in public the significance of every vote and the challenges facing this year's State Duma elections.
