Vladimir Putin has suffered a major blow after a top commander and high ranking official was killed in the Kursk region.
Sergey Efremov, deputy governor of Russia’s Primorsky Krai, was killed over the weekend, after his vehicle was blown up by a land mine.
The 52-year-old was on his way back to the frontlines and is believed to have died instantly along with another officer.
He becomes the highest-ranking official to perish in Putin’s war, which has been raging for almost three years.
The Kremlin has urged officials to sign up for active duty with Russia’s military.
Most have chosen to serve in drone units behind the frontlines. However, Efremov proved to be an exception to the rule.
His loss exposes the divide between Moscow’s propaganda about patriotic sacrifice and the reality of most officials choosing safe positions far away from the battlefield.
Efremov was a trained soldier who graduated from Russia’s elite airborne officers’ college in Ryazan.
He set up a volunteer unit called the Tigers in June 2022, when Russia was on the back foot across Ukraine.
He fought with the unit until 2023 when he returned to Primorsky Krai to resume his career as a deputy governor.
Apparently motivated by the Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024, Efremov then rejoined the Tigers.
Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the Primorsky Krai, hail the fallen soldier as a “hero”.
In a video posted to his social media channel, he said: “He honoured and courageously fulfilled combat missions there, glorifying the marine infantry, glorifying the Tigers and Primorsky Krai.
“I know that his friends and comrades will do everything to avenge him.”
Putin has amasses an army of around 60,000 in Kursk – including some 12,000 North Koreans.
The Russians are attempting to regain territory seized by Ukrainian forces during a lightening incursion at the beginning of August last year.
