- Статьи
- Society
- Desiring a room: the trial of the seizure of assets of the ex-mayor of Sochi has begun
Desiring a room: the trial of the seizure of assets of the ex-mayor of Sochi has begun
Sochi has begun considering a lawsuit by the Prosecutor General's Office against the former mayor of the city, Alexei Kopaigorodsky, his wife, relatives and friends for a total amount of about 1.6 billion rubles. The couple is accused of embezzlement on a particularly large scale, receiving bribes and money laundering. With the official income of the mayor of 16.3 million rubles over ten years, the family owned more than 50 properties in the Krasnodar Territory, St. Petersburg, Moscow and the Leningrad region. Among the items seized during the searches are a collection of jewelry, high—end alcohol, an antique rifle and expensive watches. The details of the case are in the Izvestia article.
What is the ex-mayor of Sochi being tried for?
Consideration of the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office for the seizure of assets of former Sochi mayor Alexei Kopaigorodsky, his wife Yanina, relatives and acquaintances began in the Khostinsky District Court of Sochi on January 14, 2026. The total amount of property and funds is 1.6 billion rubles.
The wife of the ex-mayor of Sochi Yanina Kopaygorodskaya
Kopaygorodsky was arrested on September 25, 2024 by the Meshchansky district Court of the capital. The former mayor was detained in the LPR, where he served as a member of the SVR — the ex-mayor volunteered for the special operation zone almost immediately after his resignation. His former employees testified against him, which became the basis for the investigation, a law enforcement source told Izvestia.
"The testimony was related to his possible personal involvement in certain corruption schemes," the source said. — There are suspicions that he received kickbacks from business representatives involved in funeral services, construction, catering and other super-profitable areas. It is possible that he built a system of these kickbacks through a chain of intermediaries, and the money he received could invest in real estate.
A month and a half later, on November 13, 2024, the Meshchansky District Court placed his wife Yanina under house arrest. The woman was accused of especially large embezzlement. In November 2025, the Prosecutor General's Office approved an indictment on embezzlement on a particularly large scale, receiving bribes and money laundering.
"According to investigators, from January 2022 to March 2024, Kopaygorodsky, with the complicity of his wife, stole the property entrusted to him in the form of two plots of land in Sochi in the amount of at least 26 million rubles," the publication says on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office.
In addition, from March 2022 to May 2024 in Sochi, Kopaygorodsky received 248 million rubles from commercial organizations for creating favorable business conditions. The ex-mayor's wife, according to investigators, was engaged in mediation in bribery and money laundering through the acquisition of real estate. Yanina Kopaygorodskaya is also accused of bribing witnesses and forcing them to give false testimony.
Now, the Prosecutor General's Office is demanding that the family, their relatives and friends be stripped of 1.6 billion rubles worth of property. Its cost is disproportionate to the legal income of the family for the entire period of public service of the former head of the resort, a source close to the investigation told Izvestia.
Kopaygorodsky was required to provide information about income and property for himself, his wife and children. Until 2022, the ex-mayor's wife was Anastasia Gredina, who bore him two children, and later Yanina Kopaygorodskaya. Even before the divorce, Alexey Kopaygorodsky was in fact in a family relationship with her.: she gave birth to a daughter in 2021, and in 2023, twins — a boy and a girl, the source said. Kopaygorodskaya has five children in total, two from a previous marriage.
During his ten years of public service, Alexey Kopaigorodsky's official income amounted to approximately 16.3 million rubles. Yanina Kopaygorodskaya registered as an individual entrepreneur, and also became the founder of four LLC companies in the field of hospitality, beauty and transport. Her declared income increased from 25 thousand rubles in 2021 to 249.9 million rubles in 2023.
The Kopaygorodskys' property
Part of the property was registered to relatives and trusted persons, in particular, Kopaigorodsky's mother, wife, and stepson, the source said. The family had extensive real estate at their disposal: more than 50 properties in the Krasnodar Territory, St. Petersburg, Moscow and the Leningrad region. Among them are the Obolensky Hotel in the center of St. Petersburg, apartments on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow, land plots and commercial complexes.
The apartment in Moscow is registered to Yanina Kopaigorodskaya's son from her first marriage, and the land plot with a house in Sochi is registered to a lawyer who provided services to the family. The luxury apartment in Krasnodar was sold to a lawyer, who subsequently joined the family protection business.
More than 40 real estate objects, including land plots, have been registered for Yanina Kopaygorodskaya — their cadastral value is over 344 million rubles.
"In order to conceal their income, in 2023 the couple entered into a prenuptial agreement, according to which Yanina Kopaigorodskaya's property and income from entrepreneurial activities were recognized as her separate property, meaning her husband's consent is not required for transactions," the source said.
After getting married, Yanina Kopaygorodskaya earned only 25 thousand rubles as an individual entrepreneur in 2021. In 2022, her income amounted to 12.2 million rubles, and in 2023 — 249.8 million rubles. Galina, the mayor's mother, also received the status of an entrepreneur in 2022, having taken up the development of tourism in the Krasnodar Territory. However, she worked in this capacity only until January 2024, having made a profit of almost 27 million rubles in two years.
During the searches, significant amounts of money were found in the family: more than 62 million rubles in cash, $40 thousand and €2.1 thousand. A collection of luxury goods was also seized.
Among the seized items is a collection of elite alcohol. It contains Romanee-Conti wine from the 2006 harvest, the cost of which is estimated at 2 million rubles per bottle. Bottles of Petrus Pomerol from 2017 (about 700 thousand rubles) and Chateau Mouton Rothschild from 2003 (600 thousand rubles) were also found.
The total value of the seized jewelry exceeds 50 million rubles. A collection of watches was also discovered, including copies of Breguet (10 million rubles) and Patek Philippe Geneve (14 million rubles) brands.
A special place among the seized items was occupied by a collection of jewelry. The experts named two gold rings as the most valuable — with a large blue sapphire and an emerald, estimated at 13 and 11 million rubles, respectively. A pair of earrings with similar precious stones — in 12 and 11 million rubles. Also in the collection was a 2 carat diamond worth 3.5 million rubles.
Among the interior items and historical artifacts, two massive candelabra for five candles, each worth 250 thousand rubles, and a rare two-volume edition of "Tales of the Russian Land" from 1913, estimated at 209 thousand rubles, stand out. An antique weapon of particular interest is a single—barreled shotgun with a silicon lock from the early 19th century, made of Damascus steel by a court armorer from Istanbul. Experts not only estimated it at 300 thousand rubles, but also recognized it as an object of cultural value.
The defense of the former mayor and his wife on Wednesday, January 14, asked the court not to seize the wine and watch collection as part of the anti-corruption lawsuit, lawyer Yanina Kopaygorodskaya Elizaveta Metkina told Izvestia.
— The attempt to extend the claim to a wide range of third parties and to items like watches and wine collections goes beyond the subject and object of Federal Law No. 230 (on the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of individuals on the repayment of overdue debts. The law lists specific categories of property: real estate, transport, shares/securities, digital assets," she said. — But it does not provide for a wine list and a watch catalog as the subject of an anti-corruption lawsuit. In this part, the defense asks to cease production.
According to Konstantin Trapaidze, Alexei Kopaigorodsky's lawyer, the Prosecutor General's Office is trying to legalize the evidence obtained during the investigation through a civil trial.
"They do not meet the criteria of admissibility," he told Izvestia. — Kopaygorodsky submitted all the declarations that were checked, including by the prosecutor's office, and there were never any questions about them. Kopaygorodskaya had her own income before marriage, she received 200 million as a loan from an individual even before meeting him.
What schemes are used by corrupt officials
The Prosecutor's Office, acting in the interests of Russia, seeks to turn assets acquired as a result of corruption offenses into state revenue, recalled Vladimir Kuznetsov, Vice President of the Association of Lawyers for Registration, Liquidation, Bankruptcy and Judicial Representation.
"Practice shows that officials seeking to conceal illegally acquired property use a variety of schemes designed to confuse their tracks and make it difficult to identify them," he said. — One of the most common is the registration of assets for close relatives, as well as for other trusted persons who are not formally related to public service.
In the Kopaigorodsky case, the use of this method can be traced, since a significant part of the property is registered to the spouse and other persons named in the lawsuit as co-defendants. This allows us to formally comply with the requirements of anti-corruption legislation on declaration, while actually maintaining control over assets.
— Another common method is the use of controlled legal entities, so—called dummy companies, or affiliated structures, — he said. — Through such companies, real estate, vehicles or other valuables are acquired, which creates an additional level of alienation from the real beneficiary.
In addition, complex financial instruments and offshore jurisdictions may be used. The purpose of all these schemes is to create the appearance of legality of the origin of assets and make it difficult to identify them as corrupt.
"The process of identifying and seizing illegally acquired property from officials often takes years for several reasons," the expert noted. — Firstly, the difficulty of proving the connection between illegal income and specific assets. The prosecutor's office needs not only to establish the fact that expenses do not match income, but also to prove that the property was acquired with funds received as a result of corrupt actions.
Multilevel schemes also create significant obstacles for law enforcement agencies.
"The need for coordination between different agencies — the prosecutor's office, investigative authorities, the tax service, Rosfinmonitoring — can also affect the timing," Vladimir Kuznetsov added.
Lawyer Vitaly Ulianenko reminded that if the court proves Alexey Kopaigorodsky's guilt under the article on embezzlement, he could face up to ten years in prison.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
