Kremlin exacts loyalty amid tightening crackdown on Russian elite

The Kremlin's grip on the Russian elite appears to be closing ever tighter as two major figures of Russian business and security structures were detained in the past few days.

Konstantin Strukov, a billionaire running a gold mining empire, and Viktor Strigunov, a former top officer in Russia's National Guard, are now facing corruption accusations.

While separate cases, they point to a push by Russian higher-ups to purge corrupt or potentially disloyal figures as Moscow grinds forward its full-scale war on Ukraine.

"I would certainly say that there has been an increased crackdown (on the Russian elite)," says Stephen Hall, assistant professor in Russian and post-Soviet politics at the University of Bath.

The Russian state is "trying to send the signal that loyalty is important... You can be corrupt, but don't be too excessively corrupt without showing loyalty."

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The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy

Gold mining magnate detained

Strukov was caught attempting to leave Chelyabinsk for Turkey on a private jet despite an earlier court ban on traveling abroad, Kommersant reported on July 5. As the pro-Kremlin news outlet wrote, Russian authorities boarded the aircraft and seized the businessman's passport.

The detention followed a court ruling on July 2 that Strukov and his family cannot leave the country as Russian prosecutors seek to seize his assets.

The same day, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Investigative Committee raided the offices of Strukov's Yuzhuralzoloto group as part of an investigation into alleged environmental and safety violations.

Though Strukov's relatives and company denied his attempt to flee, Kommersant shared a picture of the billionaire sitting despondent on board the plane, surrounded by black-clad officers.

A Chelyabinsk court told Reuters that Russian prosecutors suspect Strukov of acquiring property "through corruption," while Kommersant wrote the billionaire allegedly used his official position to transfer assets to his company.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office now reportedly calls for the transfer of Strukov's shares and stakes in 11 companies, including the Yuzhuralzoloto group, Russia's third-largest gold producer, into state ownership.

The company is currently registered under Strukov's daughter, Alexandra, who holds Swiss citizenship.

The case mirrors earlier state takeovers during the full-scale war against Ukraine, presented as an anti-corruption campaign. It comes at a time when Russia is grappling with a widening budget deficit and an overheating economy.

The case could signal that the "Russian economy is not doing as well as Putin keeps on publicly saying that it is," Hall told the Kyiv Independent.

"We're starting to see that the ever-shrinking pie, as it were, needs to be redistributed... it may be that his (Strukov's) assets are being taken over in order to be redistributed to someone closer to Putin."

The nationalization drive peaked in 2024, when the state seized at least 67 companies with a total asset valuation of 544.7 billion rubles (about $7 billion), the Moscow Times calculated. Companies whose owners were suspected of Western connections were particularly targeted.

Strukov's family owns businesses in Serbia and Montenegro, and Russian authorities reportedly accused him of funneling money from Russia to "unfriendly countries."  

Russia likely doesn't want key national assets like gold "in the hands of someone that it doesn't necessarily trust, a man who has been sending money abroad to 'unfriendly countries,'" Hall said.

A former coal miner, Strukov took over Yuzhuralzoloto — at the time on the verge of bankruptcy — in 1997, restructuring it and building up sizeable holdings in the gold and coal mining sectors.

According to Forbes, the gold mining magnate is the 78th richest man in Russia with a net worth of $1.9 billion. Strukov is also a member of the Chelyabinsk legislative assembly for Putin's United Russia party. He is sanctioned by the U.S., the EU, and the U.K.

The Kremlin has declined to comment on the case when approached by the Russian media.

Defense officials in the crosshairs

As the Russian state tightens its grip on business, it also continues to "clean up" the security structures.

Colonel General Viktor Strigunov, first deputy director of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) until 2023, has been detained on suspicion of bribery and abuse of power, the Russian state media reported on July 7.

Strigunov, while in charge of a multi-million dollar contract for the construction of a training facility in Siberian Kemerovo Oblast in 2014, ordered the project to proceed despite existing restrictions, according to RIA Novosti.

The project was never completed, causing the state to lose over 2 billion rubles (over $25 million).

The former official is also accused of taking bribes of over 66 million rubles (over $840,000) from private companies between 2012 and 2014 in exchange for patronage during major state construction projects.

Strigunov is not the first National Guard official embroiled in a corruption case this year.

Major General Konstantin Ryabykh was fired and detained in February over suspected bribery, while Major General Mikhail Varentsov was arrested on fraud charges in April.

Hall links the cases to a broader Kremlin crackdown on Russia's defense groups. On July 1, former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was sentenced to 13 years for bribery in a case dating back to a broader anti-graft campaign against defense officials in 2024.

However, Strigunov's case is especially notable because after his dismissal as the National Guard's deputy head in 2023, he served as an advisor to the force's chief and Putin's close ally, Viktor Zolotov.

"It could be that Zolotov is also trying to save his skin, having perhaps been a bit too corrupt," Hall says, suggesting that the National Guard chief has selected Strigunov to be his "fall guy."

Mounting crackdown on Russian elite

This week's cases are only the latest in a string of firings and arrests in the more than three years of the full-scale war.

The atmosphere of anxiety among the Russian elite is growing even heavier amid mysterious suicide cases.

Just on July 7, the Russian media reported that Transport Minister Roman Starovoit shot himself dead in Odintsovo shortly before or after being fired by Putin.

Starovoit was reportedly implicated in a major embezzling scandal while he was governor of Kursk Oblast. His former deputy, Alexei Smirnov, has already been arrested in the case, which centers around the construction of fortifications in the border region.

Other government and business officials have met untimely deaths in the past years, often falling out of windows under unclear circumstances. Although these cases are usually labelled by Russian authorities as suicides or accidents, some observers suggest a deliberate motive.

While Hall observes mounting pressure against the Russian elite, Russian journalist and opposition activist Sergey Parkhomenko says the events could be seen instead as elite infighting.

"The law enforcement agencies are part of the Russian elite, and it appears that this elite is pressuring itself and from within," he told the Kyiv Independent.

"Russian power structures are closed off inside Russia like a hermetic jar... Therefore, pressure within this environment is growing, and its participants are constantly devouring each other. All this is quite chaotic in nature."

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The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek