Sergei Bochkarev, the head of the Prosecutor General's Office's main civil litigation department, has returned to his post after being dismissed in late July, Fontanka reported, citing a source. According to the outlet, Putin annulled Bochkarev's dismissal by decree.
In late July, Kommersant reported that a decree had been signed to remove Bochkarev from his position. The decision was made at the prosecutor's own request, and the document did not state a reason. Prosecutor General Alexander Gutsan then dismissed Bochkarev from the prosecutor's office by order. Sources told the newspaper that Gutsan was dissatisfied with his work.
The Telegram channel VChK-OGPU was the first to report Bochkarev's return, and a Fontanka source later confirmed it. The Insider noted that neither the dismissal decree No. 510 of July 27 nor the reinstatement decree No. 590 of August 18 has been published on the Kremlin's website or the legal information portal. Under current rules, presidential acts are subject to mandatory publication, except for documents or parts thereof containing state secrets or confidential information.
Bochkarev has worked in the prosecutor's office for more than 20 years and has served in the central apparatus since 2010. He led the work on seizing Domodedovo, Makfa, gold miner YUGK, and the Rusagro group for the state. In court, Bochkarev or his subordinates typically represented the agency. He also prosecuted the case of former Interior Ministry colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, whose assets worth about 9 billion rubles were confiscated.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, in 2025 the state nationalized companies worth a total of 4 trillion rubles. More than 800 companies were transferred to state ownership. In May, Putin allowed these assets to be sold under a simplified procedure with discounts of up to 50%.
According to estimates by the law firm Nektorov, Savelyev and Partners, the volume of nationalized assets has exceeded 6.5 trillion rubles since 2022. In late 2025, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs sent Putin a letter complaining about arbitrary nationalization. RSPP head Alexander Shokhin said businessmen want a "clear formula" for asset seizure, because currently "any property can be turned into state property without compensation."
VChK-OGPU claims that former Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov pushed for Bochkarev's return to the prosecutor's office after his dismissal. Earlier, Bochkarev was considered a possible candidate to move to the Supreme Court following Krasnov, but according to Kommersant, he was not taken into the judicial system.