Russian authorities are increasingly pursuing corruption cases against regional and military officials, legal maneuverings that are putting the elite on guard and in some cases may be aimed at quelling public anger about battlefield failures.

Government officials in three of the five Russian regions bordering Ukraine have been arrested and accused by prosecutors in recent months of embezzling funds that Moscow had earmarked for border fortifications, cases brought after successful Ukrainian cross-border attacks.

Last year, Russia also began a rare, high-level purge of top military generals and defense ministry leaders through corruption cases. Around the same time, President Vladimir Putin transferred his longtime defense chief, Sergei K. Shoigu, to a more nebulous job running the Russian national security council.

As a rule, Putin does not admit battlefield errors or publicly blame loyal aides for lapses. Criticism of the military in Russia is outlawed. So the anti-corruption cases have become a convenient option, allowing Moscow to appease the public without admitting a failure by the central apparatus.

“The government has declined to connect these investigations with something you might call treason or betrayal,” said David Szakonyi, a political scientist at George Washington University, who studies corruption in Russia. “It has allowed the public to connect it in their own minds.”

Moscow cannot accuse the officials of wartime failures, because that would force leaders “to acknowledge that the campaign has not gone according to plan, which they are very unwilling to do, because that affects morale and recruitment,” Szakonyi said.

Corruption is a routine facet of life in Russia. But corruption cases have also long been a method for Russian elites to settle scores, assert influence and send messages to specific sectors of society. Even as certain officials face corruption charges, those close to Putin or with better connections generally remain unscathed.

As the war transforms Russian society, such cases are increasing. In the first quarter of this year, the number of corruption-related crimes identified by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office rose by 24% compared with the prior year, the office told the Russian newspaper RBK. Corruption cases generally involve public officials.

The border fortification embezzlement cases seem in part to be aimed at quelling anger among Russians in the border regions over Moscow’s failure to protect them from Ukrainian attacks, especially after Ukrainian forces occupied part of the Kursk region. The charges imply that the border with Ukraine would have been better protected had local officials not stolen the money for the defenses, claims that also deflect blame from the Kremlin.

The legal actions attracted attention this month when Russia’s transportation minister, Roman V. Starovoyt, was found dead, in what authorities called a suspected suicide, hours after the Kremlin announced he had been relieved of his duties. Russian media reported that Starovoyt, who served as governor of the Kursk region when the border fortifications were ordered, had been implicated in the case.