The Moscow prosecutor's office said the court also imposed a fine of 80.1 million rubles and barred Abysov from holding posts in state bodies involving organizational, administrative or economic powers for three years. The Insider reported that he was stripped of the Order of Friendship. Prosecutors had sought 15 years and a 90 million ruble fine.
According to investigators, Abysov in 2016 organized the embezzlement of $5 million in state funds that RVC invested in Alion Energy through the Bright Capital fund, of which he was the beneficiary. The company developed technology for solar power plants. The money was transferred through the British investment fund RVC I LP, linked to the Russian state company.
Investigators allege that former RVC board member Yan Ryazantsev and Bright Capital co-founder Mikhail Chuchkevich persuaded the venture company's management to finance the project by providing inaccurate information about its financial position. By the time the investment was received, Alion Energy was loss-making and on the brink of bankruptcy, according to the prosecution.
Ryazantsev and Chuchkevich were sentenced in March 2024 to six and five and a half years in a colony respectively. In August 2026 Chuchkevich was released from further serving his sentence because of illness; Ryazantsev remains in custody.
Abysov pleaded not guilty. During the trial he argued that he had invested in Alion Energy himself and suffered losses, and therefore should be considered a victim. He also pointed to discrepancies in the charges: in the Ryazantsev and Chuchkevich case the damage was estimated at 394.9 million rubles, while in his charge sheet it was 353.7 million. Investigators changed the alleged end date of the crime from January to December 2016. Kommersant noted that the original date created a risk that the 10-year statute of limitations would expire.
The defense will appeal the verdict, The Bell reported. More than 353 million rubles in damages will also be recovered from Abysov.
In December 2023 the Preobrazhensky District Court of Moscow sentenced Abysov to 12 years in a strict-regime colony and an 80 million ruble fine in the first case, on charges of organizing a criminal community and fraud. According to investigators, he and accomplices embezzled about 4 billion rubles from the Novosibirsk energy companies Sibeko and Regional Electric Networks. The new case was opened in autumn 2025, when Abysov was already serving his sentence, after which he was transferred to a Moscow pretrial detention center.
Mikhail Abysov served as a minister from 2012 to 2018 in Dmitry Medvedev's cabinet. In March 2019 he was detained by FSB officers.