Prosecutor General's Office Demands Ban on Activities of Owners of "Lesta Games" and Wargaming

The agency accuses Khatazhaev and Kislyi of extremism and demands the recovery of 100% of Lesta's shares into state revenue

The Prosecutor General's Office has appealed to the Tagansky Court of Moscow with a request to ban in Russia the association consisting of the owner of "Lesta" Malik Khatazhaev and the owner of Wargaming.net Viktor Kislyi. The agency claims that the businessmen are engaged in extremist activities in the country and wants to recover 100% of Lesta's shares into state revenue.

Premium Tier IX tank E 77 from the game "Мир танков"
Image source Мир танков

The lawsuit presents publications that, according to the prosecutor's office, confirm the extremist nature of the actions. Among the headlines mentioned are "The most military game World of Tanks against Russia's special operation" and "Wargaming launched a charity project with Ukrainian content in games to raise money for ambulances." These materials became the basis for the charges.

"Леста Игры" is a company that develops and publishes video games in Russia. It manages projects such as "Мир танков", "Мир кораблей", and Tanks Blitz. Previously, "Леста Игры" was part of Wargaming, founded in 1998 by Kislyi. However, after the start of military operations in Ukraine, Wargaming announced its departure from Russia and Belarus and transferred its business to "Леста". The names of the games in English — World of Tanks and World of Warships — were translated into Russian. Khatazhaev owns 99% of the share in LLC "Леста Игры", and 1% belongs to LLC "Леста Геймс Эдженси".

At the end of 2024, the revenue of LLC "Леста Геймс Эдженси" amounted to 24.8 billion rubles, and the net profit was 6.4 billion rubles. For LLC "Леста Игры", these figures amounted to 5.9 billion rubles and 145 million rubles, respectively. For LLC "Леста Геймс Москва" — 195.6 million rubles and 9.5 million rubles.

Earlier www1 wrote about the imposition of asset seizure on the Lesta Group and related parties. The company has already appealed this decision, which adds intrigue to the situation. The question of how events will unfold remains open.