From Original Sin to War Expropriation: Asset Redistribution in Russia

“From Original Sin to War Expropriation: Asset Redistribution in Russia”: A new report by Fabian Burkhardt (IOS), Sonya Richter, Timofei Mikhasev, Denis Morokhin and Arnold Khachaturov has just been published by the Center for Data and Research on Russia (Cedar).

Four years into the full-scale invasion, Russia has experienced its largest redistribution of property since the 1990s. A new report, co-authored by IOS researcher Fabian Burkhardt, tracks nationalizations affecting 12% of Russia's Forbes billionaires. The beneficiaries are remarkably concentrated; over 90% of the reprivatized assets went to state corporations and to Putin's inner circle, particularly the Rotenberg and Kovalchuk families.

Since 2022, Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has filed over 170 nationalization lawsuits targeting assets worth 4.99 trillion rubles (€53.5 billion). In 2025 alone, claims were filed for nearly half that total. The report, which was written in collaboration with the independent Center for Data and Research on Russia (Cedar), identifies both top-down dynamics, such as punishing disloyalty, rewarding cronies, and generating wartime revenue, and bottom-up pressures, including bureaucratic careerism, elite infighting, and regional power struggles.

The implications for regime stability are nuanced. Collective business action against the Kremlin remains highly unlikely. However, the process creates long-term risks, such as eroding property rights, intensifying elite competition, and undermining economic efficiency.

This study has been covered by leading Russian independent media, including The Bell, Meduza, and The Moscow Times. 

The report is available via open access.