The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has filed a claim with the Sovetsky District Court in Makhachkala to designate former MP Magomed Gadzhiev, his relatives, and affiliates an ‘extremist group’.
The claim also requests that property registered in the names of family members and associates, with a total value of more than ₽2 billion ($25 million), be confiscated in favour of the state, and that these assets be frozen until a court decision is reached, Russian media outlet RBC reported, citing sources in the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The same information was confirmed by other Russian media outlets including Kommersant, Interfax, and Vedomosti.
According to the details published, prosecutors have named as members of the alleged group Gadzhiev himself, his reported partner Nina Kolomiytseva, his son Magomedrasul Gadzhiev, and his sister Raisat Gadzhilova. Reports also highlight that other relatives, including Gadzhiev’s father, are listed as respondents, as property was registered in their names.
The Prosecutor General’s Office argued that the ‘basis of the group’ consists of ‘political and ideological positions’ expressing support for ‘foreign states hostile to the Russian Federation, including Ukraine, and their armed formations’. It added that the group’s activities are conducted from abroad and are allegedly aimed ‘against the life and health of Russian citizens [and] the security of society and the state’.
Prosecutors further alleged that after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gadzhiev left Russia, after which he ‘provide[d] financial assistance to Ukrainian armed formations’, ‘discredited the Russian Armed Forces’, and ‘justified sanctions’ imposed on Russia. The claim also states that Gadzhiev ‘expressed readiness to cooperate with Western intelligence services in exchange for foreign citizenship’.
Kommersant, citing the lawsuit, added that Gadzhiev allegedly received at least $45 million from ‘US government structures […] for disclosing classified information’. The so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was the body that reportedly uncovered these payments. No additional details have been provided.
In March, the Polish outlet GEO Polityka wrote that Gadzhiev may have held an account with the US bank Wells Fargo containing over $45 million. The report said that the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had asked the bank not to close the account, as Gadzhiev had provided the IRS with information and was entitled to compensation. The same outlet also named Gadzhiev as a co-owner of Fantom Foundation, the company behind the cryptocurrency Fantom (FTM), as well as a shareholder in several online casinos and a betting company.
Previously, in March 2023, Romanian outlet RBN reported, citing materials it had received, that Gadzhiev, in an attempt to obtain a European passport, expressed willingness to provide sensitive information and to ‘convince his interlocutor’ that he opposed Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Gadzhiev served as an MP for Putin’s United Russia party between 2004 and 2019. Before that, he was deputy head of the Federal Tax Ministry’s office for Daghestan and later for the Southern Federal District.
In May 2023, the Justice Ministry added Gadzhiev to the register of ‘foreign agents’, stating that while abroad he ‘expressed willingness to cooperate with foreign sources’ in exchange for citizenship and ‘declared support for the Ukrainian authorities’.
A few days later, United Russia announced that Gadzhiev had been expelled from the party ‘for actions discrediting the party’. Daghestani Head Sergei Melikov wrote on Telegram that he considered the decision justified: ‘For the sake of a European passport Gadzhiev was ready to pour dirt on everything close and dear to us: his fellow countrymen, friends, the republic, the country, and even religion,’ he wrote, calling Gadzhiev a coward and a traitor.
In February 2024, the Russian Interior Ministry announced that Gadzhiev had been placed on a wanted list. He is accused of organising the 2011 killing of Maksud Sadikov, rector of the Makhachkala Institute of Theology and International Relations.
In July of that year, the Russian independent media outlet Proekt reported that Gadzhiev’s persecution in Russia was due to his conflict with his business partner, Daghestani billionaire Sultan Kerimov.
Elizaveta Chukharova
