Seizure of property and accounts of those who left

• Since 1 September 2026 (Law 168-FZ, KoAP art. 27.20) a court can arrest the property of a person facing a 'political' administrative case for actions abroad: foreign agents, 'undesirables', 'disrespect for authorities', calls for sanctions (art. 20.3.4) and others. No fine is needed first: the arrest is requested together with the case report. Money in accounts is arrested first, and only if there is none, a flat or car.
• It is a securing arrest, not confiscation: you cannot dispose of the property, and the court may also restrict its use, for example ban renting it out. The value arrested is not limited by the size of the fine, and the arrest has no time limit. The judge decides no later than the day after the request arrives, without notifying the person. You can ask the same court to lift the arrest; the request is heard within 5 days.
• With unpaid fines over 30,000 roubles, bailiffs can ban leaving Russia. Enforcement proceedings are listed in the bailiffs' database (see 'Am I on a list?').
• Lawyers advise arranging powers of attorney for relatives and sorting out property and savings in Russian banks in advance, before any case. Once a case is opened, property deals without a lawyer are risky: they can be declared a sham and reversed. After you are added to the 284-FZ register, powers of attorney stop working.
• If an account is frozen: some money is protected from seizure. OVD-Info's guide explains how to get it back, but the deadline to appeal a criminal-case arrest is now 15 days, not 10. Where to turn: First Department, Reforum Help.
• Besides the new administrative arrest there are three other mechanisms: the Rosfinmonitoring list freeze (no court, within 24 hours), arrest in a criminal case (court decides within 24 hours) and confiscation by a verdict. People abroad with an unpaid fine or sentence can be put on the 284-FZ register: freeze, no deals by power of attorney, Rosreestr returns applications. Details in the memo 'My flat or accounts were arrested'.
• What is usually not taken: an only home without a mortgage cannot be sold for a fine; a spouse's half and children's maternity-capital shares belong to them; relatives' property is not covered by the administrative arrest. But a shared flat can be frozen whole, and relatives may have to defend their share. Rights groups advise keeping records of whose money bought what.

Designations of organisations in this guide: OVD-Info (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Reforum Help (undesirable). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: OVD-Info: seizure of emigrants' property (extremist); First Department: the law on seizing emigrants' property (foreign agent); OVD-Info: my bank account was frozen (extremist); KoAP art. 27.20 as amended by Law 168-FZ (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Law 168-FZ of 10.06.2026, official publication (in Russian); Law 284-FZ of 04.08.2026, full text (Garant, in Russian); Civil Code art. 170: sham and disguised transactions (ConsultantPlus, in Russian)