«Novaya Gazeta Europe»* studied 100 lawsuits on nationalization filed by prosecutors since the beginning of 2022. During this time, the state seized assets worth almost 2.56 trillion rubles — this is more than 2% of Russia's GDP for 2024, while since the beginning of 2025, businesses have had almost as many assets seized as for the entire year of 2024. The revenue from this nationalization has already been four times greater than the proceeds from the notorious collateral auctions of the 90s. In 1995, according to economist Daniel Treisman, the «fair» market value of 12 large companies without discounts was $3.3 billion, which, taking into account inflation over 30 years, would have grown to $6.9 billion.
Prosecutors were particularly active at the beginning of 2025 — during this time, they seized already two-thirds of the volume of assets (50 companies worth 808 billion rubles) that were nationalized for the entire previous year.
This year's record was made possible thanks to two cases. The first — a lawsuit against the owners of Domodedovo Airport, valued at 320 billion rubles. Claims against Dmitry Kamenshchik and Valery Kogan are based on their foreign citizenship, which is a new trend: the owners of about a third of the nationalized companies live abroad, and therefore «follow the aggressive policies of Western states aimed at strategically defeating the Russian Federation by damaging its economy».
The second largest case, which made prosecutors' coffers in 2025, — Primorsky «Dalpolimetall», one of the leading producers of tin and lead. The Prosecutor General's Office took it from Eduard Yanakov — a Far Eastern businessman and State Duma deputy in 2008–2011. The main value of this mining and processing complex — deposits of lead and zinc ores in five mines, which are valued at 270 billion rubles.
The largest real estate redistribution was the confiscation of property from the former owner of Yugra Bank, Alexey Khotin. The family owned about 40 properties in Moscow — including the Four Seasons hotel opposite the Kremlin, the Gorbushkin Dvor shopping center, and Filion. They generated about $135 million in rental income per year. All these properties were transferred to the state.
The most common wording in court decisions for both 2024 and 2025 — «illegal possession» of a strategic object, on the basis of which it is returned to the state.
The authorities are hunting not only for money, business, and land. Three lawsuits have already been filed for the seizure of intellectual rights related to military developments.
After three years of property redistribution in Russia, several groups of stakeholders have formed, to whom confiscated assets are transferred. Among them — the family of Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, close to Putin. Their structures have already received several large chemical enterprises, including «Volzhsky Orgsintez» and «Metafrax Chemicals». Another major acquirer of confiscated assets became Rosselkhozbank and VTB, as well as «Rostec», headed by another Putin confidant, Sergey Chemezov.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent» and «undesirable» organization.