Vedomosti reports Russia’s former deputy natural resources minister left for US after resigning
Update. According to Faridaily, citing its sources, Butsayev first traveled to Minsk, then to Tbilisi, and is now in the United States.
Denis Butsayev, Russia’s former deputy minister of natural resources and ecology, has left the country, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported, citing sources. He resigned a week ago.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed the order accepting Butsayev’s resignation on April 22. He left Russia through Minsk that same day, according to Vedomosti.
In late April, several anonymous Telegram channels reported that a criminal case had been opened against Yury Valdayev, the administrative director of Russian Ecological Operator (REO) — the operator company of the garbage reform — on fraud charges. Butsayev worked at REO from April to November 2019, was subsequently appointed first deputy governor of Belgorod Region, and returned as CEO of REO in November 2020, a post he held until moving to the Natural Resources Ministry in 2025.
Criminal cases have also been opened against two other senior REO managers, Yekaterina Stepkina and Maxim Shcherbakov, Vedomosti’s sources say, and Butsayev is mentioned in the case materials as well. In what capacity he appears there, and what the cases concern, is unclear.
The independent Russian news outlet Faridaily says Butsayev is likely the first senior official to have left Russia under threat of criminal prosecution since the wave of repression against the elite began — at a time when many others, to avoid criminal charges, have gone to fight in the war. He does not appear on U.S., Canadian, British, or EU sanctions lists, and his current whereabouts are unknown, Faridaily reported.
The wave of repression against senior officials has been ongoing since 2024, according to the independent Russian political newsletter Faridaily. The most prominent cases have been the purges at the Defense Ministry and among the former allies and colleagues of Sergei Shoigu, who led the ministry until May 2024. Some of Shoigu’s colleagues have already been convicted.
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Garbage reform
The “garbage reform” launched on January 1, 2019. It replaced smaller companies with large regional operators responsible for waste removal. In mid-January, Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ecological Operator, which was to oversee the waste collection and processing system.