Confiscation of property in Russia

Crime in Russia

Main article: Crime in Russia

Chronicle

2025: Computers and smartphones confiscated during an administrative violation will now be transferred to the ownership of the regions of the Russian Federation

On February 5, 2025, a federal law comes into force, according to which confiscated property that was an instrument of commission or the subject of an administrative offense is subject to conversion to the ownership of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation at its location. Such property, among other things, includes smartphones and computers.

The explanatory note to the law states that the highest executive body of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, which owns such property, will be responsible for the assessment, storage and sale of confiscated property. Various categories of goods (for example, household appliances and food products with an expired shelf life in the original packaging) can be promptly used for their intended (intended) purpose, including for the provision of humanitarian assistance to the population. This approach is said to minimize or eliminate the cost of storing confiscated products.

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Фото: Freepik

The implementation of the bill will lead to replenishment of the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which will have a positive effect on the balance of the budget system, the authors of the document emphasize.

The implementation of the bill, as noted, will not entail socio-economic, financial and other consequences, including for subjects of entrepreneurial and other economic activity. The list of confiscated property that will be transferred to the ownership of the regions of the Russian Federation is determined by order of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 12, 2024 No. 2503-r. It includes:

• Phones (smartphones), computer and household appliances and their components;
• Perfume, cosmetic products and household chemicals;
• Food and agriculture products;
• Printed and other printing products;
• Medicinal products and medical equipment;
• Furniture, interior items and other household products;
• Packaging.^[1]

2024: The sale of confiscated property in Russia for the year reached ₽114,43 billion

The volume of revenues to the federal budget of Russia from the sale of confiscated property in 2024 reached ₽114,43 billion, which significantly exceeded the planned targets fixed in the budget law at the level of ₽80,8 billion. All funds were transferred to the revenue side of the budget after the sale of property converted into the ownership of the state. Information on indicators is posted in March 2025.

According to Vedomosti, according to the operational report of the Accounts Chamber on budget execution in 2024, no revenues were recorded under this article in 2023. 100% of the funds from the sale of confiscated property, as well as assets transferred to the ownership of the state on the basis of decisions of criminal courts, are credited to the federal budget.

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Фото: Freepik

Since July 2024, income from the sale of property of corrupt officials began to be credited to the federal budget, and not to the budget of the Social Fund, as it was before. It is with these legislative changes that the Accounts Chamber connects the increase in revenues under this article.

The representative of the press service of the Accounts Chamber explained that the code of budget classification for income from the sale of confiscated property was introduced by order of the Ministry of Finance only in November 2024, so there was no income under this article in 2023.

The head of the Prosecutor General's Office Igor Krasnov at the final board of the department on March 19 said that in 2024, prosecutors through the court turned property worth almost ₽2,4 trillion in favor of the state. Assets worth ₽504 billion were seized for corruption crimes.

Bloomberg Economics economist Alexander Isakov believes that one of the reasons for the increase in income under this article could be the intensification of the work of the Prosecutor General's Office with "unconfirmed incomes" of civil servants. He notes that in 2023 the courts satisfied the claims of the prosecutor's office for ₽400 billion for the seizure of property acquired for unconfirmed income, and the seizure of property, its liquidation and transfer of income in favor of the budget were reflected in the growth of the corresponding income items already in 2024.^[2]

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