Arrests of senior Russian officials increased from 21 cases in 2022 to 110 in 2025, a more than fivefold rise, according to a study by the CEDAR research center. In an analysis published on November 3, The Insider compared those figures with regional prosecutions and examples of changes in political influence following arrests.
CEDAR estimated that from early 2023 to mid-2026, roughly one in ten mayors of large and medium-sized cities faced a criminal case, along with 9% of senior regional administrators and about 8% of officials in the ministerial-level category examined. The figures cover defined groups of officeholders, not all public officials in Russia.
One example in the analysis was Krasnodar region, where seven deputies to Governor Veniamin Kondratyev were detained from May 2024 onward. Other cases included former Sochi mayor Alexei Kopaygorodsky, sentenced to 15 years in October 2026. Detentions, unresolved charges and final judgments represent different legal stages.
CEDAR also found that the share of cases involving the Federal Security Service (FSB) rose from 75.9% in 2018 to 89.6% in 2025. The researchers reported that the total value of confiscations rose from 90 billion rubles in 2022 to 1.6 trillion rubles in 2025.
The researchers and the journalist behind the analysis view the prosecutions not only as anti-corruption enforcement but also as a possible means of managing regional elites and redistributing assets. That is an interpretation of overall trends, not proof of the motives behind every individual case.