A large-scale review has begun at the Moscow Arbitration Court, which could lead to the resignation of its chairman, Nikolai Novikov

A large-scale review has begun at the Moscow Arbitration Court, which could lead to the resignation of its chairman, Nikolai Novikov

The Judicial Department at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is launching a large-scale audit of the Moscow Arbitration Court.

Based on its results, the head of the Moscow Arbitration Court, Nikolai Novikov, may be offered to step down from his position. In connection with the audit, Novikov withdrew his sick leave application, which he had submitted for planned hospitalization in order to "ride out" the period of escalating conflict with Vyacheslav Kress, chairman of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District, who has powerful backing including from Igor Krasnov, chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Our project has learned the formal reason for the large-scale audit.

According to regulations, scanning all documents received by the Moscow Arbitration Court in paper form should be handled by the court’s own employees. However, under the pretext that court staff cannot manage this technical work due to increased workload and that case processing timelines need to be accelerated, Novikov has been repeatedly signing contracts for document scanning with one external organization. According to some reports, it is linked to his inner circle.

When Novikov’s conflict with Kress intensified, the director general of the Judicial Department, Lopatin, refused to approve a new state contract for document scanning (the old one expired on April 21, 2025). Novikov then wrote an angry letter to Lopatin, stating that if the new contract was not approved, the Moscow Arbitration Court would simply suspend scanning of procedural documents received on paper, which would effectively cause a collapse in the court’s operations. Paper-submitted documents would stop appearing in the "Case Files" and "Electronic Review" systems, leading to a huge backlog of people wanting to review cases in person at the courthouse, and review times would have to be cut from the current 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Case processing timelines would also increase significantly, along with the number of complaints against the Moscow Arbitration Court.

However, the letter had no effect on Lopatin. Novikov then accused Lopatin of incompetence, claimed that his actions since late April had effectively paralyzed the Moscow Arbitration Court’s operations, and tried to get a direct meeting with Igor Krasnov. For fairness’ sake, it should be noted that Novikov is one of the few members of the old judicial team who is not afraid to clash with former Prosecutor General’s Office officials who have massively taken over leadership positions in Russia’s judicial system. However, according to a source, instead of support, Krasnov ordered an audit of the Moscow Arbitration Court’s activities, particularly all of its contracts with external organizations. The chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation considered Novikov to be blackmailing the leadership in an attempt to secure the desired contract. He reached these conclusions, including at Kress’s instigation. In such a situation, Novikov abruptly changed his mind about going on extended sick leave.

An interlocutor believes that the audit results will provide a solid basis to demand Novikov’s resignation, and if he refuses, he will be threatened with handing the materials over to investigative authorities.

In the backrooms of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, there is active discussion that Krasnov already has a candidate in mind to replace Novikov. It is not known exactly who it is. However, recently Krasnov has been promoting his favorite, former deputy prosecutor of Kuban Vyacheslav Ovechkin, up the career ladder with an eye toward Moscow. He was quickly appointed deputy chairman of the Krasnodar Territory Regional Court, but it was known from the start that Ovechkin would move to the capital as early as fall 2026. There were rumors that he would take the place of Moscow City Court Chairman Mikhail Ptitsyn, who is tipped for a promotion to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. But now Ovechkin’s name is also being floated among possible successors to Novikov.