Russia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by one of the former owners of Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport challenging the nationalization of the airport.
Last June, an arbitration court ruled to transfer Domodedovo’s ownership to the Russian state after determining that its owners, Dmitry Kamenshchik and Valery Kogan, were foreign residents.
“The judicial chamber of economic disputes rejected Kamenshchik’s appeal, leaving the lower court rulings unchanged,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.
In January, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport emerged as the winning bidder after the government auctioned off the airport for 66.1 billion rubles ($880.2 million). Sheremetyevo is controlled by a company linked to Arkady Rotenberg, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s Supreme Court said it estimates Domodedovo’s assets at more than 1 trillion rubles ($12.7 billion).
The day after Domodedovo was sold at auction, the Supreme Court returned Kamenshchik’s appeal against the airport’s nationalization.
Kamenshchik filed a second appeal in early February, which the Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday.
After the state seized Domodedovo in 2025, the airport’s finances deteriorated rapidly. Losses rose from 6.8 billion rubles ($88.4 million) in 2023 to 10 billion ($130 million) in 2025, while debt climbed to 70 billion ($910 million).
Since September, Russia’s Supreme Court has been headed by Igor Krasnov, who led the Prosecutor General’s Office when it seized the airport.
In court, prosecutors cited Kamenshchik’s residence permits in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates and Kogan’s Israeli citizenship as evidence that Domodedovo was under foreign control.
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