Former Minister Mikhail Abyzov sentenced to 14 years in prison

The Tagansky district court of Moscow found the former Minister of open government Mikhail Abyzov guilty of fraud on an especially large scale with shares of the Russian Venture Company (RVC). According to the totality of sentences, he was appointed 14 years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 80.1 million rubles, a RBC correspondent from the courtroom reports. The ex-official was also banned from holding positions related to the performance of organizational, administrative and administrative functions in state bodies for 3 years and decided to deprive him of the Order of Friendship.

The second criminal case against Mikhail Abyzov was considered by the judge Olga Sergeeva since July 2026. During the debate of the parties, the state prosecutor asked to appoint the former minister, together with the previous sentence, 15 years of a strict regime colony and a fine of 90 million rubles. The prosecutor also insisted on depriving Abyzov of the right to hold positions in the civil service related to the performance of organizational, administrative and administrative-economic functions for three years, restriction of freedom for two years and four months and deprivation of the state award - the Order of Friendship.

A criminal case on embezzlement of funds during investments of the Russian Venture Company The Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow opened in March 2018 against the former director of the investment department of RVC Jan Ryazantsev and unidentified persons. Later, the defendant in the investigation was the co-founder of the Bright Capital fund Mikhail Chuchkevich. In March 2024, the Tversky District Court of Moscow found Ryazantsev and Chuchkevich guilty of particularly large-scale fraud and sentenced them to six and five and a half years in a general regime colony, respectively. In August of this year, Chuchkevich was released from further serving his sentence due to a serious illness, while Ryazantsev continues to be in prison.

The criminal case of Mikhail Abyzov was separated into a separate proceeding. He was charged with fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code) on September 11, 2025. It concerns the theft in 2016 of $ 5 million, which at the exchange rate of the Central Bank at that time was 353.8 million rubles. According to the investigation, Yan Ryazantsev, who was a member of the board of RVC, and Mikhail Chuchkevich convinced the board of directors of the company to invest budget funds in the projects of the American Alion Energy Inc., which was engaged in the development of technologies in the field of solar energy. After receiving money in the company, which, according to the charges, was unprofitable and was on the verge of bankruptcy, the funds were transferred to the accounts of other organizations, cashed and stolen. The investigation considers the organizer of this crime Mikhail Abyzov, who was a beneficiary of the Bright Capital Ltd fund.

In September 2025, Abyzov, who was serving a sentence in a strict regime colony, was transferred to a special block of the SIZO “Matrosskaya Tishina”. Soon after, the Tverskoy district court of Moscow chose him a measure of restraint in the form of detention for two months. At the meeting, the former minister called the accusations “absolutely groundless” and said that his participation in investments does not indicate involvement in the theft of RVC funds.

According to Abyzov, the case materials do not contain evidence of his connection with the crimes for which Ryazantsev and Chuchkevich were previously convicted. He claimed that the charge was based on his investment in Alion Energy, which other investors had invested in. “My interests there were represented by companies that made investments and were declared by me as a civil servant,” the former minister explained. He also requested that he be treated as a victim along with MVC, as the investments had not yielded the expected returns and part of the investments had been written off as illiquid.

What is known to Mikhail Abyzov

Mikhail Abyzov was born in Minsk. After winning the Physics and Mathematics Olympiad, he received an invitation to the Physical and Mathematical Boarding School No. 18 at Moscow State University and moved to Moscow. There he studied together with the future founders of MDM Bank Yevgeny Ishchenko and Andrei Melnichenko. After graduating from the boarding school, Abyzov entered the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University, in the first year he began to engage in commercial activities.

In the mid-1990s, Abyzov founded the United Russian Fuel and Energy Company (ORTEK), which traded the products of the largest enterprises of Western Siberia, including fertilizers and grain. In 1996, he became a shareholder of several enterprises, including Sibirgazservice, Novosibirskenergo and Novosibirsknefteprodukt. The last company at that time was 51% owned by Yukos. After the conflict over operational control of the enterprise, Abyzov’s share was bought by Sibneft, which merged with Yukos, for $ 70 million.

In 1998, Abyzov moved to work at RAO UES of Russia, where he headed the Department of Investments and Business Projects. A year later, he became Deputy Chairman of the Board of the company, which was then Anatoly Chubais. In the energy industry, Abyzov was engaged in investment projects and gradually formed his own business.

Since 2006, Abyzov headed the board of directors of the Ru-Kom group, which managed his assets in energy and agriculture. The structure of the group included, in particular, the Siberian Energy Company (Sibeko), Elsib and the Kopitania agricultural holding. In 2007-2011, he also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mostotrest, one of the largest Russian infrastructure companies.

In 2011, at the suggestion of President Dmitry Medvedev, Abyzov headed the project of “big government”, later called “open government”. After his appointment as Minister, he was responsible for coordinating his activities and interaction of the authorities with the expert community and public organizations. Abyzov held this post until the formation of a new government in May 2018.

In 2015, Abyzov topped the rating of the highest paid Russian ministers: his declared income for the year amounted to 455.6 million rubles. In 2018, Forbes magazine estimated the former official’s fortune at $600 million. In the ranking of 200 richest businessmen in Russia, he took 162nd place.

In December 2023, the Preobrazhensky District Court of Moscow sentenced Abyzov to 12 years in a strict regime colony in the case of embezzlement of 4 billion rubles from the Siberian Energy Company (Sibeko) and Regional Electric Networks. According to the investigation, the crime was committed in 2011-2014 by members of the organized community. The court also found it established that while holding public positions, Abyzov was engaged in entrepreneurial activities. Even before the sentencing, in 2020, the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office and recovered 32.5 billion rubles from the former minister - income from the sale in 2018 of Sibeko shares.