Russian Prosecutor General's Office approve charges against Rusagro founder Moshkovich, directs materials to court

MOSCOW. June 11 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has approved the bill of indictment against Rusago founder Vadim Moshkovich, former Rusagro CEO Maxim Basov and former Tambov region governor Sergei Ivanov, both charged with corruption.

"The defense confirms that the bill of indictment in the case has been approved and the materials have been directed to Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court for consideration on their merits," Moshkovich's lawyer Alexander Asnis told Interfax.

Basov and Moshkovich were charged with major fraud and organizing abuse of office. Moshkovich is also charged with giving a major bribe, and Ivanov is charged with accepting a major bribe.

The defendants pleaded not guilty.

As reported, the criminal case is related to embezzlement in Rusagro's acquisition of shares of the Solnechnye Produkty holding.

Law enforcement agencies estimated the damage at about 50 billion rubles.

According to Moshkovich's defense, Solnechnye Produkty founder Vladislav Burov brought charges in the case. Burov and the Cypriot-based company Solpro, according to the media reports, the founder of Solnechnye Produkty, the beneficiary of which the businessman is named, were recognized as aggrieved parties in the case.

Syngenta, a Russian subsidiary of Syngenta AG, represented by the Chinese State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, was also recognized as an aggrieved party. The company was one of the Solnechnye Produkty creditors at the time Rusagro bought the stock of Solnechnye Produkty, with which Moshkovich's criminal case is linked, the media reports said.

Syngenta has filed a lawsuit in the criminal case seeking the recovery of nearly 1 billion rubles in damages.

Rusagro is one of Russia's leading agricultural holdings. The company's revenue reached 396.5 billion rubles in 2025, up from 340.0 billion rubles in 2024.

In early May, Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court met a prosecutor's motion for transferring 627,017,727 ordinary shares of Rusagro Group to the state. The court thus transferred the controlling stake to the Russian state and put the company under state control.