Constantine Polezhaev — former mayor of Belgorod and former deputy governor of Belgorod Oblast, who in 2024 was convicted of receiving an 18-million-ruble bribe — has been killed on the line of combat contact in the war against Ukraine. As Ukrainian media report, citing Russian sources, Polezhaev, who signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence shortly before his sentence took effect, died at the front. The specific circumstances of his death are not currently disclosed.
Career from the city hall to vice-governor
Constantine Polezhaev headed Belgorod from 2015 to 2019, holding the position of city mayor. After his term ended, he moved to the post of deputy governor of Belgorod Oblast, where he continued working in regional administration. Thus, at the time of the criminal proceedings, Polezhaev was a sitting senior official, which gives his case particular resonance in the Russian public space.
Criminal case and sentence for bribery
In 2024, a court found Polezhaev guilty of receiving an 18-million-ruble bribe. He was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in a correctional colony. However, shortly before the sentence took legal effect, the former official signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence and went to the war against Ukraine. After he left for the front, the appellate court in Russia suspended proceedings on his criminal case, which is a standard procedure for convicts who have signed a contract with the military department.
Death at the front and lack of details
According to data broadcast by Russian media and reprinted by Ukrainian news agencies, Constantine Polezhaev was killed in combat operations on the front of the war against Ukraine. Neither the exact date of death, nor the specific sector of the front, nor the circumstances under which he died are provided in open sources at the time of publication. Information about the death of the former mayor of Belgorod is disseminated primarily through secondary channels — Ukrainian media cite Russian news resources without specifying the name of the outlet that first published the message, which limits the possibility of independent verification of the details.
Military context: Operation "Vivaldi" in northern Donetsk region
Polezhaev's death at the front comes against the backdrop of the ongoing offensive operation "Vivaldi," carried out by the Third Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the north of Donetsk Oblast. Earlier, Ukrainian soldiers drove the occupiers out of the settlement of Seredne without losses, fully clearing and taking the populated area under control. Over the past week, the corps' fighters advanced on several other sectors in northern Donetsk region, although some of the liberated settlements are not yet disclosed for tactical reasons. It is in this region, presumably, that the combat operations took place in which the former official died.
Contradictory data
No significant discrepancies in figures and dates were found among the four analyzed sources: all agree that Polezhaev was mayor of Belgorod in 2015–2019, was convicted in 2024 of an 18-million-ruble bribe, sentenced to five years in a colony, and died at the front. The only caveat concerns the original source of the information about the death: all Ukrainian media cite "Russian media" without specifying the name of the outlet that first published the message. This creates a small gap in the verification chain, however, the multiplicity of reprints from independent Ukrainian editorial offices (RBC-Ukraine, Censor.net, Kochegarka, Informator) increases the degree of reliability of the overall narrative.
