Sergei Bochkarev, the head of the main civil-litigation department of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, has been fired, the Kommersant newspaper reported, citing sources. According to the newspaper, the decision was made on Bochkarev's own report; the document does not state a reason.
Bochkarev was the agency's lead 'specialist in asset confiscation' to state revenue. He oversaw the lawsuits to nationalize Domodedovo airport, pasta maker Makfa, gold-mining holding Yuzhuralzoloto (YGK), and the Rusagro group, and also represented the prosecution in the case of former Interior Ministry colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, from whom assets worth about 9 billion rubles were confiscated.
Kommersant noted that the conveyor-belt confiscation had begun to raise questions from leadership. The Prosecutor General's Office valued Domodedovo at roughly 1 trillion rubles, but at auction the airport sold for less than 70 billion rubles. Moreover, new owners of confiscated enterprises often received unpaid debts and other problems along with the assets, the newspaper wrote.
Sources told Kommersant that Prosecutor General Alexander Gutsan was dissatisfied with Bochkarev's work. At Gutsan's demand, the agency's approach to litigation 'underwent substantial changes,' the outlet reported.
Bochkarev had earlier been tipped for a seat on the Supreme Court, but, according to the newspaper, he was not taken into the judicial system. He will now likely take up academic and teaching work, possibly becoming a vice-rector at a major university. Who will replace him has not yet been announced; among possible contenders, sources named Nelli Solnyshkina, head of the Prosecutor General's Office's department for the Northwestern Federal District.
The mass seizure of assets in favor of the state, which began after the invasion of Ukraine, sparked discontent among big business. At the end of 2025, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) sent President Vladimir Putin a letter complaining about arbitrary nationalization. By June 2026, the total value of nationalized assets had exceeded 6.5 trillion rubles, The Moscow Times noted.