Russia's Prosecutor General Alexander Gutsan has dismissed Sergei Bochkarev, the senior official who has led the large-scale campaign to seize assets from private companies since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. According to the Kommersant newspaper, Bochkarev, who served as head of the Prosecutor General's Office's Civil and Judicial Department, is expected to be replaced by Nelli Solnyshkina, an experienced prosecutor from northwestern Russia and a close ally of Gutsan.
Under Sergei Bochkarev's leadership, private property worth 6.5 trillion rubles (approximately $81.45 billion) has been nationalized since 2022. The most notable targets of these operations include Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, food producer Makfa, and gold miner YUGK.
Sources speaking to Kommersant said that Bochkarev followed a "simplified" method in the seizure process and inflated asset valuations in court filings. This led to difficulties for federal authorities in reselling these properties at those prices and raised "questions" among the leadership about Bochkarev's handling of the cases.
The dismissal came after Prosecutor General Gutsan publicly criticized the mismanagement of seized properties in May. At the time, Gutsan said, "Situations where seized property continues to generate income for its former owners, is used illegally by third parties, or becomes unusable due to lack of proper maintenance completely discredit our work."
Bochkarev joined the Prosecutor General's Office in 2010 and was known for his leadership in high-profile cases, such as the investigation against anti-corruption police officer Dmitry Zakharchenko. That case resulted in the largest cash seizure in the history of Russian law enforcement. Bochkarev, who was once nominated for a seat on the Supreme Court after his former boss Igor Krasnov, was ultimately rejected by the judiciary. Kommersant wrote that Bochkarev will likely turn to academia.
