(May 6): A Moscow court ordered the nationalisation of billionaire Vadim Moshkovich’s stake in agricultural business Ros Agro plc after prosecutors filed an anti-corruption lawsuit against him, according to local media outlet RBC.
The Prosecutor General’s Office argued Moshkovich had used his position as a senator in the upper chamber of Russia’s parliament to illegally enrich himself, the news service reported. Alongside Moshkovich, his spouse and other family members were defendants in the case.
Moshkovich, now 59, represented the agricultural Belgorod region in the Federation Council from 2006 to 2014. Ros Agro owns significant assets in the region, which neighbours Ukraine and has been the subject of attacks during the war.
On Tuesday, the court ruled in favour of transferring to the state the 49% stake in Ros Agro held by Moshkovich’s family, RBC reported. In total, about 65% of the company’s shares will be transferred to the state, the Tass news service said.
Moshkovich and Maxim Basov, former Ros Agro chief executive officer, were arrested in March 2025 on suspicion of fraud. Both denied the charges.
According to prosecutors, due to the illegal use of power and embezzlement, the assets of Ros Agro now exceed 551 billion roubles, the Kommersant newspaper reported previously, citing a copy of the prosecutors’ claim.
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The tycoon’s case underscores a broader trend in which some of Russia’s richest people are increasingly exposed to asset seizures that have accelerated since 2022. The state has previously taken over businesses linked to an airport owner Dmitry Kamenshchik and gold mining billionaire Konstantin Strukov.
Moshkovich founded Ros Agro in the late 1990s turning it into Russia’s third-biggest producer of food and beverages, according to data compiled by researcher INFOLine. In 2011, Ros Agro held initial public offering in London.
The tycoon currently has a fortune of US$2.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is sanctioned by the European Union and the UK over the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.
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Moshkovich later established and funded the Letovo School in Moscow, which ranked first globally for International Baccalaureate (IB) results in 2025 before Russia designated the IB organisation as undesirable.
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