On 17 August 2026 the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow handed down a verdict in a case involving the embezzlement of nearly 15 billion rubles from grid energy companies. The main defendant in the case was Nizhny Novgorod businessman Dmitry Arzhanov — former co-owner and ex-CEO of TNS Energo.[1]

The case

According to the investigation, from late summer 2011 to autumn 2020 top managers of the TNS Energo holding company and of TNS Energo Nizhny Novgorod entered into a criminal conspiracy: after collecting payments from electricity consumers, they transferred the funds to accounts of affiliated structures in Cyprus, bypassing the actual suppliers — PJSC MRSK Tsentra and PJSC MRSK Tsentra i Privolzhya. The total damage amounted to nearly 15 billion rubles.[1] Arzhanov was detained in autumn 2020, together with a number of other executives from the group.[1] The criminal case was heard by the Tverskoy District Court from late 2023, with all defendants denying involvement in the embezzlement.[1]

Verdict and sentence

The court found Arzhanov guilty under Part 3, Article 210 of the Russian Criminal Code ("organizing a criminal community") and Part 4, Article 159 ("fraud on an especially large scale"), sentencing him to 18 years in a strict-regime penal colony through partial cumulation of sentences. The court additionally imposed a fine of 850 million rubles and banned him from holding executive positions in commercial organizations.[1]

On the same day the court announced verdicts for the other defendants: former executive director of TNS Energo Nizhny Novgorod Boris Shchurov and former head of the holding company Sergei Afanasyev each received 17 years in a penal colony, while Sofia Afanasyeva received 16 years with a suspended sentence.[3] Earlier, one of the defendants had been convicted under a special procedure and sentenced to six years in a strict-regime colony.[1]

At the time it was announced, the verdict had not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed.[1]

Sources

  1. NIA Nizhny Novgorod — Nizhny Novgorod oligarch Dmitry Arzhanov sentenced to 18 years in prison (archive)
  2. Otkrytyi Nizhny — Former co-owner of TNS Energo Arzhanov gets 18 years in a strict-regime colony (archive)
  3. NN.RU — Verdict for Nizhny Novgorod oligarch Dmitry Arzhanov: criminal case over theft of 15 billion rubles, sentence — August 17… (archive)
  4. GiperNN — About 195 million rubles to be allocated for a new cable for the Nizhny Novgorod cable car (archive)
  5. NIA Nizhny Novgorod — New cable for the Nizhny Novgorod cable car will cost 194.6 million rubles (archive)