By Elena Alexeeva | 2026-02-06

On paper, Belgorod's most urgent problem appears to be television. Not electricity, which fails regularly. Not water or heat, which hundreds of thousands of residents have recently lost. But airtime.

In late December, local authorities approved spending 30 million RUB (about $330,000 at the time of sentencing) on televised coverage of their own work, even as the Ukraine-bordering region struggled to keep basic infrastructure running under attack.

The money was allocated through a public procurement tender for "information support" for officials -- an unremarkable bureaucratic expression that nonetheless drew attention in a region where the gap between official narratives and daily reality continues to widen.

A managed image

Belgorod's local news environment offers few outlets for open debate. Stories about drone strikes or infrastructure failures rarely attract public comments, either because websites disable them or because regional censorship intervenes. In that vacuum, procurement records have become one of the few ways to trace the authorities' priorities.

Those records show a city straining under debt. In November 2025, facing a growing budget deficit, Belgorod city hall issued a tender for a loan totaling nearly 1.5 billion RUB (about $16.7 million). The city agreed to pay 586 million RUB (about $6.5 million) in interest alone. The winning bidder offered a marginally lower price -- 583 million RUB.

At the same time, regional authorities continued to fund projects aimed at shaping public perception. Alongside the television contract, they allocated 10 million RUB (about $110,000) for New Year's lights, 545 million RUB (about $6.1 million) to create green spaces and another 2 million RUB (about $22,000) to decorate a venue for a public event with Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Independent media outlets have increasingly criticized what they describe as an emphasis on self-promotion, arguing that scarce funds are being directed toward image management rather than repairing destroyed housing, roads and shelters.

The television contract is the most explicit expression of that approach -- both in scale and in detail.

Paying for airtime

The regional Ministry of Public Communications is the customer for the television advertising, according to December 28 reports. The contract covers news segments airing from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, with a total run time of 66 minutes. It also includes interviews, themed programs and special reports, though only four minutes of airtime is allocated to those formats.

An employee of a Russian advertising holding company, speaking anonymously, told Kontur that "the tender for this contract was posted on the website zakupki.gov.ru. These kinds of procurement processes often proceed quietly." The most likely provider, the source said, is Mir Belogorya, which effectively monopolizes broadcast television in the region.

Mir Belogorya presents itself as uniquely adapted to local conditions. Its website outlines advertising costs, audience reach and the risks of operating in a border region subject to shelling. Regional television, the company notes, reliably reaches a loyal audience aged 35 and older and remains well suited to official messaging.

"However, television advertising costs double or triple what an online campaign would cost," the advertising specialist said, noting that digital campaigns offer faster deployment, broader reach and more precise analytics.

"The stated total run time for 30 million rubles without a specific technical assignment doesn't say anything," the source added. "But since the likely service provider holds the monopoly on the market, it's possible that this is a huge overpayment."

Taken on its own, the television contract might be dismissed as another example of bureaucratic excess. In Belgorod, however, its significance becomes clearer when set against what the region has been unable -- or unwilling -- to fund.

What goes unfunded

The television contract moved forward at a moment when other procurement efforts were stalling.

In late December, Kommersant reported that funding could not be secured to protect key power infrastructure in the border region. "In the same border area where residents are suffering from regular drone attacks on infrastructure -- a legal military target -- there is no funding for protecting key power facilities," the newspaper wrote.

The failed tender sought round-the-clock security for 12 power facilities operated by Rosseti subsidiary Chernozemnoe PMES in Belgorod and neighboring Kursk Regions. The contract carried a starting price of 200.9 million RUB (about $2.2 million) for three years, from 2026 to 2028. Only one bidder applied. Negotiations collapsed over price and contract terms, and the tender was declared void.

The outcome reflected the growing strain on the regional budget. Belgorod, like neighboring Kursk, Bryansk and Voronezh Regions, is running a deficit. Its 2026 budget may be the smallest in three years, Fonar.tv reported in November. For the first time in that period, cuts are set to affect social services and education, even as spending on servicing state debt continues to rise.

Those pressures extend beyond Belgorod. Analysts at Expert RA wrote in May that expanded military spending has reduced liquidity across Russia's regions, forcing local governments to borrow more heavily. Federal subsidies for reconstruction now account for a larger share of regional revenues. Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, cited by Economic Pravda in January, attributed the strain to sanctions and a deteriorating global economic environment, which it said had exposed long-standing structural weaknesses in Russia's regional budgets.

Moscow has already directed substantial funds to Belgorod Region. The federal government previously allocated 9.4 billion RUB (about $104 million) to repair damaged housing, followed by another 800 million RUB (about $8.9 million) to compensate businesses. As shelling intensified, regional officials warned that even those sums might not be enough and that loans could be required to pay contractors, particularly if federal support slowed.

With financial pressure mounting, the tone of regional leadership shifted. In 2024 and 2025, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov accused residents of exaggerating damage, committing fraud and making "excessive demands," Novaya Gazeta Europe reported. The outlet also noted that Gladkov lives in a 324-square-meter apartment once owned by founders of the Transyuzhstroi construction company, which has since become a major recipient of contracts to repair shelling damage.

By January 2026, the strain was visible on the ground. About 600,000 residents were left without power, heat or water that month alone. Against that backdrop, the regional government expanded its monitoring of social networks. Gladkov tasked Public Communications Minister Oksana Tarantova with intensifying that effort, Bel.Ru reported January 12, citing concerns that outside forces and "instigators from within" were exploiting routine problems.