President Vladimir Putin and Russian senators finalized a major judicial reshuffle on Wednesday, appointing a new prosecutor general and confirming a new chief justice of Russia’s Supreme Court.
The upper-house Federation Council unanimously approved Igor Krasnov for a six-year term as chief justice. Shortly after, Putin signed decrees relieving Krasnov of his previous position as prosecutor general and naming Alexander Gutsan as his replacement.
In a follow-up decree, Putin added Krasnov to his advisory body on judicial appointments and terminations, removing his predecessor, Irina Podnosova, who died of cancer at 71 in July.
Krasnov had led the Prosecutor General’s Office since January 2020. Podnosova served as chief justice for 15 months, following Vyacheslav Lebedev, who headed the Supreme Court from 1989 until his death in February 2024.
Gutsan, meanwhile, had served as presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District since 2018 and was deputy prosecutor general for 11 years prior. He was a classmate of former President Dmitry Medvedev at Leningrad State University, graduating in 1987 with a law degree.
Last week, Krasnov told Russia’s high qualification board of judges that judicial independence must be balanced with accountability to prevent abuses of power.
On Tuesday, reports emerged that prosecutors targeted a Russian Supreme Court judge in an anti-corruption probe seeking to seize nearly 100 properties allegedly linked to him.
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