During the few years in power, the occupation head of Zaporozhye, Evgeny Balitsky, managed to quarrel with Pamfilova and Khinshtein. What else do you remember about the official?

The occupation head of the Zaporozhye region, Yevgeny Balitsky, again found himself at the center of a scandal - this time because of his words about the “Kurchans”. Alexander Khinshtein and z-bloggers reacted sharply to them, and the official had to apologize. Before this, Balitsky entered into a public conflict with the Russian Central Election Commission and Ella Pamfilova, from which he is unlikely to emerge victorious. “New Europe” tells the career path of an official: from the Russian sanctions list to criminal cases in Ukraine.

“I hope the residents of the Kursk region will understand”

On October 28, during a “direct line” on Vkontakte, the occupation head of the Zaporozhye region, Yevgeny Balitsky, spoke impartially about the residents of the Kursk region.

“We did everything to protect our region in 2023. And we protected her. No match, by the way, for the Kursk residents,” he said live ( the broadcast has already been deleted. - Ed. ).

In response, the current head of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, demanded an apology from the official for “accusing the people of Kursk of allegedly not defending their region during the invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” According to the governor, such statements by an official are “unacceptable,” and especially today, “when the word is also a weapon, and the enemy is trying to use any situation to rock our society.”

“I consider such statements absolutely unacceptable. They insult all Kursk residents, whom Evgeniy Balitsky, who has never been to the Kursk region, mistakenly calls Kursk residents. I really hope that my colleague will have the courage to publicly admit that he was wrong and apologize to the residents of our region,” Khinshtein wrote in his Telegram channel.

Balitsky’s statement also outraged Russian z-bloggers. “Voenkor” Roman Saponkov clarified : “Did Balitsky himself personally take up arms many times and defend something?” The authors of the telegram channel “Two Majors” noted that “they were extremely closely monitoring the reflection of the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2023 and the preparations for it <...> then they prepared and did not sleep on it.”

“Where were you? They created a militia, became a general of Zaporozhye <...> No, of course, it is necessary to lead the defense. True, not always from another region and not from the shore of the Azov Sea (the Ukrainian Armed Forces were advancing on the other side). A bunker is also good. But you can visit it more often. Like, for example, in training trenches for beautiful filming,” the post says.

The blogger’s publication also states that it is not clear “what victories and on what fronts “Governor General” Balitsky has to his credit in order to condemn the residents of the Kursk region.

The Z-telegram channel “Revenge of Goodwill” asked the question when “former citizens of the agonizing” Ukraine who have become Russified over the past three years will be “moved from government service”:

- Well, right. After all, everyone knows and understands everything. But, apparently, it’s not time for MMM to collapse yet. But with such pearls they will speed up this time for themselves.

After all the criticism, Balitsky commented on his statement. As he explained, by the word “Kursk residents” he “meant the former leadership of the region, which is accused of stealing one billion rubles allocated for the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine, which led to the enemy’s invasion of Russian territory.” According to him, “this is a number of people who are directly to blame for the situation that the whole country, our Army, every resident heroically dealt with.”

Fraud case

The Ukrainian Armed Forces' invasion of the Kursk region occurred in August 2024, when the region was ruled by Alexey Smirnov. In April 2025, the court arrested the official on charges of fraud (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code) for one billion rubles during the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine. Together with him, his former first deputy Alexey Dedov is involved in the case. In September it became known that a criminal case had also been opened against Smirnov for receiving a bribe on an especially large scale (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code); the official, as part of a pre-trial agreement, admitted to receiving it.
Also in early July, the Minister of Transport and former head of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoyt, was dismissed. A few hours later, his body was found in Odintsovo. According to media reports, before his death, his former colleagues, defendants in the embezzlement case, including Smirnov, testified against him.

As for the residents of the Kursk region themselves, Balitsky apologized to them:

— I apologize to the residents of the Kursk region who could take my words personally. Residents of the Zaporozhye and Kursk regions shoulder to shoulder knocked out the enemy, our volunteer detachments were stationed on Kursk soil for eight months, volunteer associations worked, and this support has always been and will be mutual. From the first day of the special military operation, we have felt the support of the entire country and the residents of the Kursk region and continue to support each other.

The official hopes that “residents of the Kursk region will understand” his position.

Conflict with the Central Election Commission

This is not the first public conflict in Balitsky’s career. A few months ago, in the summer of 2025, he began a public confrontation with the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova. In August, the Central Election Commission appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office due to delays in salaries for election commission employees in the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region. Balitsky himself wrote on August 1 in his Telegram channel that he was “concerned about the situation” with non-payment of salaries and stated that this was “the result of the inaction of the leadership of the Electoral Commission and failure to comply with the legislation.” According to him, when forming the regional budget, the number of staff of the election commission was approved at 25 people, but no one reduced the remaining employees.

“[This] was a direct violation of the Budget Law and resulted in irrational use of budget funds. As a result, the salary fund was completely exhausted. A staff of 85 people, which is brought to work once every two to four years, is impractical,” Balitsky emphasized.

In response, Ella Pamfilova stated that the official himself “artificially created” this situation. She noted that the Central Election Commission of Russia and the chairman of the occupation electoral commission of the Zaporozhye region, Galina Katyushchenko, repeatedly asked Balitsky to solve the problem.

“The head of the region does not have the right to determine the number of staff members of election commissions, since they are not part of the executive authorities, but at the same time, federal law defines his obligation to co-finance them,” the head of the Central Election Commission emphasized.

She indicated that the work of 85 full-time employees of the Zaporozhye branch of the CEC is co-financed from the Federal budget. Pamfilova called the very attempt to reduce the number of election commission employees aimed “at the collapse of the regional electoral system.”

Next, the Russian Central Election Commission demanded that Balitsky withdraw the bill providing for the “illegal dissolution of the Zaporozhye election commission,” and called his demand for the regional election commission to vacate the premises unacceptable:

— In fact, [Balitsky] is throwing the commission out into the street.

The very attempt to blame the chairman of the Zaporozhye election commission, Galina Katyushchenko, for the situation, was regarded by the Central Election Commission “as unworthy of the status of the head of a subject of the Russian Federation.”

“Moreover, Mr. Balitsky’s interview with ITAR TASS, nostalgic for the Ukrainian order, where he baselessly and very impartially speaks about the regional election commissions, was perceived by our courageous Zaporozhye colleagues, the overwhelming majority of women, who often risked their lives, literally under bullets and threats organizing a referendum and subsequent elections, as an insult,” Pamfilova emphasized .

As Kommersant wrote , salaries of election commission employees were not paid for two months. At the same time, the Russian Presidential Administration for Domestic Policy tried to resolve the conflict without making it public and supported the position of the Central Election Commission, but Balitsky “could not restrain himself.”

The situation escalated again at the end of October. On October 23, the “head” of the region announced the resignation of the chairman of the regional election commission, Galina Katyushchenko. According to him, the decision was made based on the report of the Anti-Corruption Committee due to loss of trust. In particular, she did not file a declaration of income, while “this year alone more than 40 million went through the accounts of our chairman of the election commission.” At the same time, the official emphasized that the election commission itself continues to work.

The next day, the Russian Central Election Commission promised to challenge Balitsky’s decree “due to its administrative and legal inconsistency” and appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation with a demand to check this decision for compliance with the law. In the post, the CEC emphasizes that the release from duties of a member of the election commission is beyond the competence of the governor.

“This “decree” demonstrates, in addition to open confrontation with the Central Election Commission, Mr. Balitsky’s disdain for federal legislation. Even if the claims against the respected Galina Anatolyevna Katyushchenko had at least some basis, the only thing Mr. Balitsky should have done in this case was to send a request to the Central Election Commission of Russia to consider at its meeting the legality of releasing her from her duties as a member of the commission,” the post also notes.

In addition, Pamfilova emphasized that the claims to Katyushchenko’s income declaration are “insignificant”, “since they are solely in the nature of technical errors and are not a reason for verification”:

“To put it mildly, the very fact of gross interference - behind the back of the Central Election Commission - in the activities of the regional election commission, which is not part of the system of regional executive power, is puzzling. While preparing this “decree” on the sly, Mr. Balitsky did not even bother to notify the Russian Central Election Commission about his next adventure.

“Another administrative incident indicates either gross arbitrariness as a regurgitation of the “orders” prevailing in a neighboring country, or deep legal ignorance of both the governor himself and his subordinates, who give birth to such legal “masterpieces” and expose the head of the region to everyone’s ridicule,” the CEC reported.

Balitsky himself said during a live broadcast that Ella Alexandrovna “has never been to the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region” and talks about the region only based on media information:

- Let her come and see how people live...

Soon, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, Vladimir Rogov, refuted Balitsky’s words and emphasized that he himself published information about the meeting that took place with Pamfilova in the territory of the occupied region.

The conflict between Balitsky and the Central Election Commission is developing against the backdrop of the official’s attempts to gain the right to dissolve the Zaporizhzhya electoral commission. He has already submitted a corresponding bill to the Legislative Assembly. At the same time, experts interviewed by Vedomosti are confident that “the entire government vertical will be on the side of the head of the Central Election Commission” in this public confrontation.

Evict and dig trenches

Balitsky himself came to power in April 2022, when the Russian army partially captured the Zaporozhye region and created an occupation military-civil administration (MCA) there. The official first served as its head, and in May of the same year was appointed chairman of the administration. According to TASS, Balitsky was also one of the first in the occupied Zaporozhye region to receive a Russian passport.

After the illegal referendum in September 2022, when supposedly “the majority of residents were in favor of the region joining the Russian Federation,” it was Balitsky who signed the agreement on the “incorporation” of the territory into the Russian Federation. On September 26, the official joined United Russia.

On October 4, 2022, Vladimir Putin appointed him acting governor of the Zaporozhye region, and a year later, deputies of the so-called Legislative Assembly of the Zaporozhye region, on the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation, elected Balitsky as governor of the region. On the same day he officially took office. In February 2025, the official became secretary of the Zaporozhye regional branch of United Russia.

Overall, his time as “Governor” has already been remembered for a series of controversial incidents. In January 2023, he said that he was evicting people who participate “in extremist activities” from the occupied part of the region. Before the “expulsion,” the Ukrainians were sent to “dig trenches for two weeks.”

A year later, in February 2024, Balitsky stated that in the occupied territories of Zaporozhye, “Russian authorities” evicted entire families of citizens who simply did not support the Russian occupation.

“A large number of families were evicted. It was very difficult to do. They evicted those who did not support the North Military District in one way or another, those who insulted the flag, the anthem of Russia, and the President of the Russian Federation. We, taking advantage of the position that we had at that time, until we legally joined the Russian Federation, we evicted such people. Whole families,” Balitsky said in an interview.

According to the “governor,” people “couldn’t be convinced.” The authorities also feared that their neighbors would kill them, since “in the first stages of the special operation there were facts when people committed lynching.”

Balitsky explained that they “had to put these people somewhere,” so large families were either “given the opportunity to leave” or were forcibly evicted.

“They brought him to the ribbon, read out the decision to evict him, gave him a bottle of water and sent him away <...> What to do with a woman with three children? Who has a different belief. She does not consider Russia her homeland. She doesn't think what's happening is right. What should we do, kill her? It’s clear that we simply pushed them out,” he said.

In July 2025, Balitsky awarded the ex-commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army Ivan Popov with the Order of Merit for the Zaporozhye Region, 1st degree. As the official wrote in his Telegram channel, “in defending the Zaporozhye region, the Russian army showed courage, dedication and heroism.”

At the same time, Major General Popov was arrested in May 2024 in a criminal case of fraud on a particularly large scale. According to the investigation, the serviceman, together with Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov and businessman Sergei Moiseev, was involved in the theft in 2023 of almost two tons of rolled metal products worth 130 million rubles. Officially, they were purchased by the occupation military administration of the Zaporozhye region to provide humanitarian aid. On April 24, 2025, the court sentenced Popov to five years in a general regime colony on charges of fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code) and forgery of official duties (Article 292 of the Criminal Code). He was also fined 800 thousand rubles and stripped of his military rank.

Career before the invasion

In general, even before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Balitsky had a memorable biography. He was born on December 10, 1969 in Melitopol, graduated from the Tambov Higher Military Aviation School named after. Hero of the Soviet Union M. M. Raskova, served in aviation garrisons and was transferred to the reserve with the rank of captain in 1995. In the 90s, Balitsky, together with his older brother and father, was involved in business; his family owned their own TV channel.

By the end of the 90s, he gradually switched to politics, and already in 1998 he became a deputy of the Zaporozhye regional council from Melitopol and held this position for the next four years. In 2004, he joined the Party of Regions of Viktor Yanukovych, from which he was then elected to the Zaporozhye Regional Council. Acted as director of the department at the Ministry of Economy and European Integration of Ukraine. In 2012, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the Party of Regions, and in 2014 - as a self-nominated candidate. In 2015, he joined the parliamentary faction of the Opposition Bloc party and then headed the party’s branch in Melitopol.

As the Project notes, Balitsky submitted for discussion to deputies a bill on the popularization and protection of the Russian language in Ukraine. At the same time, his wife, as journalists found out, registered five aircraft in her name and rented them out to the National Aviation University at an inflated price.

In 2015, a criminal case was opened against Balitsky for theft and misappropriation of 37 million hryvnia. According to investigators, in 2008 his family took out a loan from the state-owned Ukreximbank secured by the Melitopol Sliding Bearing Plant. Almost immediately after this, bankruptcy proceedings for the plant began. The court found the plant director guilty of bringing the enterprise to bankruptcy and fined him, but the case of misappropriation of fundsnever came to court.

In 2017, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office opened a case against Balitsky for encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine (Part 2 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code). Then public figure Dmitry Korchinsky suggested that all oppositionists go to Russia.

“You understand that with such a philosophy Crimea has already left, we cannot regain Donbass - for now, at least. And we will leave - me and the district that I represent. Only we will leave with our territories. What's left? Kyiv region? And will you lead it?” - Balitsky said in response.

In 2018, the deputy moved to annexed Crimea. In the same year, Russia added Balitsky to the sanctions list “in connection with Ukraine’s unfriendly actions against Russian citizens and legal entities.” He was excluded from it only in November 2022.

In June 2023, a Ukrainian court sentenced Balitsky in absentia to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property on charges of organizing an illegal referendum and attempting to change the borders of Ukraine. The court recovered assets worth more than 120 million hryvnia from Ukraine's income, and the SBU seized an aircraft repair and maintenance company, five aircraft, three apartments, a private house, two land plots and four premium cars. In addition, 100% of the authorized capital of six enterprises located in Melitopol, including the local television and radio company, were nationalized.