Courts froze a record 1.9 trillion rubles in accounts in Russia in 2025. A record number of homes, cars and mobile devices were also seized

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Courts froze a record 1.9 trillion rubles in accounts in Russia in 2025. A record number of homes, cars and mobile devices were also seized

In 2025, Russian courts froze 1.9 trillion rubles in bank accounts as part of criminal cases, according to data from the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court, as “Verstka” noted. This is a record for the entire period such statistics have been kept, since 2022.

For comparison, the amount of funds frozen in accounts in 2024 was 1.2 trillion rubles, while in 2023 and 2022 it was only 640 billion rubles per year. Thus, in 2025 this figure grew by 710 billion rubles (or about 60%), and compared with 2022 and 2023, it almost tripled.

The number of investigators’ motions to seize property in 2025 reached a 20-year high (this statistical indicator has been published since 2005). In 2025, courts considered 103,800 such motions and granted 92,600 of them. In 2024 there were 85,900 motions, and in 2023, 71,900.

In addition, the number of seizures of other property also rose to record levels. In 2025, 6,300 residential premises (apartments, houses), 6,400 land plots, 34,700 cars, as well as 7,300 mobile devices (phones, laptops, tablets) were seized.

🟪Seizures of property in criminal cases are ordered before a verdict is announced, at the pretrial stage, the press service of the Judicial Department previously told Novaya Gazeta Europe. They are carried out to ensure the future enforcement of a sentence — for example, in order to collect a fine from a convicted person or possibly confiscate their property.

🟪Russian investigators use property seizures in political cases as well. For example, in February 2025, Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court froze the accounts of blogger Ilya Varlamov in a case over failure to comply with requirements for “foreign agents.” In October of the same year, the bank accounts and other assets of sneaker store founder Nikita Efremov, accused of financing the FBK, were seized.

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Property Seizure Becomes Court Routine

Courts froze record sums and property before verdicts.

The verdict can wait; the property cannot.