Moscow court sentences ex-minister Abyzov to 14 years for fraud
The combined sentence incorporates Mikhail Abyzov’s earlier conviction. The court also imposed an 80.1 million ruble (about $970,000) fine and a 3-year ban on certain government posts after his release.
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Moscow’s Tagansky District Court convicted former Russian Open Government Minister Mikhail Abyzov of fraud on 11 November and imposed a combined 14-year prison sentence, the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office said. The court also stripped him of state awards.
The court also fined Abyzov 80.1 million rubles (about $970,000) and barred him for three years after his release from government posts involving organizational, managerial or administrative-economic functions.
Abyzov was already serving a 12-year sentence imposed in 2023 in a separate case involving fraud against two Siberian energy companies, an organized crime group, illegal business activity and bribery. Kommersant put the sentence for the new case at 6.5 years; it was incorporated into the combined term rather than added in full to the earlier sentence.
The disputed investment
Prosecutors alleged that Abyzov and two associates misled the state-owned Russian Venture Company into continuing to invest in Alion Energy, a US solar-technology company, and embezzled $5 million. Investigators said Abyzov organized the scheme and that the money was transferred from Alion to other companies, cashed out and appropriated.
Financing for Alion began in 2012, and investigators dated the alleged theft to 2016. They identified the associates as Russian Venture Company board member Yan Ryazantsev and Bright Capital co-founder Mikhail Chuchkevich. Abyzov said both men were convicted in 2024 over the same events; his own trial began by 1 September 2026.
Abyzov denied the charges. He said he was an investor who lost money, did not control Alion or distribute its investors’ funds, and continued investing his own money after the alleged theft. He also said Russian Venture Company knew Alion was in financial difficulty when it approved additional funding, so its board had not been misled.
Kommersant said the court also granted Russian Venture Company’s claim for damages and ordered recovery of more than 353 million rubles, separate from the fine. The judgment can be appealed, and Abyzov’s defense intends to do so, the newspaper said.
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