Alexander Nesterenko denied accusations of abuse of power.
Former Vice Governor of Krasnodar Krai Oleksandr Nesterenko, accused of abuse of office during major school renovations in the Kherson region, denied causing any material damage in court.
As reported by Kavkazsky Uzel, in mid-May, the Leninsky District Court of Krasnodar denied the defense of former Vice Governor of Kuban Oleksandr Nesterenko his release from house arrest on his own recognizance not to leave the country.
Oleksandr Nesterenko was arrested in May 2025. The day before, he was fired due to "lack of results" in the construction industry. In June, the court transferred him to house arrest. His case was submitted to the court in early May 2026. Previously, the official was accused of abuse of office; investigators later downgraded the charges to three counts of abuse of office. According to the prosecution, the criminal case is related to three counts of major renovations of three schools and a sports ground in the city of Genichesk in the Kherson region in 2024. At the time, he was the head of the Main Construction Directorate of the Krasnodar Territory. Contracts for the renovation of four facilities were signed with Regional Construction Company JSC, and funding for the work was allocated from the Krasnodar Krai budget, Kommersant reported today.
A representative of the state prosecution stated at a court hearing today that Nesterenko signed acceptance certificates for completed work that contained deliberately false information about the completion of renovations at the facilities, and that the cost in the expense documents was fictitiously inflated. Thus, the prosecutor noted, Nesterenko violated construction control and technical supervision of major renovations at the facilities, as well as the rational use of property, RIA Novosti reports.
Witnesses in the case confirmed numerous violations in the performance of the work, uncovered during a site visit in March 2024. For example, discrepancies were recorded between the purchased building materials and those specified in the estimate, and there were also comments regarding the sewerage, heating, and electrical systems at the schools being renovated. Witnesses also acknowledged that all violations had been corrected by the time the major renovations were completed in September 2024. One witness also noted that the contract price was initially inflated.
In his defense, Nesterenko stated that the signed documents only listed part of the work completed, and omitted information about the cost of work that was not actually completed, nor did they include fictitious price increases. "I plead not guilty; I caused no material damage," Nesterenko stated in the courtroom.
The charges relate to Nesterenko's activities at his previous place of employment at the Main Construction Directorate of Krasnodar Krai, where he served from 2023 to 2024 under the leadership of Sergei Vlasov, who held the position of vice governor at the time. According to a source, the damage caused by Nesterenko's actions was estimated at more than 130 million rubles, the agency clarified.
The former vice-governor of Kuban is under house arrest during the trial. The hearing will continue on June 5.
The "Caucasian Knot" also reported that former vice-governor of Kuban Sergei Vlasov, sentenced five months ago to 11 years in a maximum-security penal colony for accepting a bribe, has gone missing in action in the military operation zone. The source noted that on May 5, he "went on his first assault and never returned."