Kathrine Frich
Russia’s richest businessmen were told they could safely bring their wealth back home if they stayed loyal to the Kremlin.
But one oligarch’s dramatic downfall is now fueling fears that no fortune in Russia is truly protected anymore.
Vadim Moshkovich, once one of the country’s most powerful agricultural tycoons, has seen his empire dismantled after falling into what critics describe as a carefully prepared Kremlin trap.
Empire seized
According to The Moscow Times and Kommersant cited by Onet, a Moscow court approved the seizure of assets belonging to Moshkovich, the billionaire founder of the Rusagro agricultural holding.
The company ranks among Russia’s biggest producers of pork and sugar and controls more than 800,000 hectares of farmland.
Forbes previously estimated Moshkovich’s fortune at around $2.9 billion.
Kremlin pressure
“Apparently, he didn’t want to give it up willingly, so now he’ll give it up under duress,” one source told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
The billionaire has been held in pretrial detention since last year on fraud and bribery charges.
Russian authorities also confiscated luxury properties, cash and bank accounts reportedly linked to Moshkovich, including billions of rubles and millions in US dollars and euros discovered during searches.
Putin’s trap
Moshkovich’s troubles reportedly escalated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In 2024, Rusagro was added to Russia’s list of strategic companies, forcing the businessman to move the holding from Cyprus back to Russia under Kremlin-backed “redomiciliation” rules.
Despite public promises that returning businessmen would be protected, Moshkovich was arrested only months later.
“Moshkovich was first forced to re-domicile his business to Russia, and now they’re simply taking it away,” a source told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
Power struggle
Sources cited by The Moscow Times claim powerful Kremlin-linked groups, including allies connected to former Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev, are interested in acquiring the agricultural giant.
The Prosecutor General’s Office accused Moshkovich of using “political and administrative resources” while serving as a senator to expand his business empire and move profits abroad through offshore structures.
Rusagro is now among hundreds of companies reportedly swept up in Russia’s growing wave of nationalisations since the war in Ukraine began.
Sources: The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Novaya Gazeta Europe, Onet.
