Russian Court Upholds Acquittal of Former Airports Chief After Prosecutors Appeal

A regional court in Russia has upheld the acquittal of Maksim Andrakhanov, a former head of the state-owned Airports of Krasnoyarsk enterprise, rejecting a prosecution challenge to the verdict in a long-running case involving alleged improper payments connected to public contracts.

The Krasnoyarsk regional court's appellate panel left the June acquittal unchanged and the judgment entered into legal force, according to the courts' joint press service as quoted by the regional edition of Kommersant on 2 November 2026. The outcome matters because the earlier ruling rejected criminal charges against a former public-enterprise executive, rather than merely reducing a sentence or postponing proceedings.

The Soviet District Court of Krasnoyarsk acquitted Andrakhanov in June on the ground that his actions did not constitute the alleged offences. Prosecutors appealed that decision after seeking a 12-year prison sentence. The appellate outcome, as reported by Kommersant, preserves his right to rehabilitation and compensation arising from the prosecution.

Investigators had alleged that Andrakhanov received approximately 27 million roubles from suppliers of equipment and services in exchange for preferential treatment in contracts. The accusations included bribery, embezzlement, commercial bribery and unlawful participation in business activity. These were prosecution allegations, not findings of guilt. The courts' reported decision leaves the acquittal in place; it is inaccurate to describe the alleged 27 million roubles as established illicit proceeds.

The sequence is independently supported by local reporting published before the appeal was decided. In July, Krasnoyarsk outlet NGS24 reported the original full acquittal, citing the regional courts' joint press office, and separately obtained confirmation from the West Siberian transport prosecutor's office that the prosecution had lodged an appeal. NGS24 also reported that Andrakhanov had denied wrongdoing and that the case had lasted nearly eight years.

The 2 November report supplies the later procedural change: the appeal failed and the acquittal took legal effect. TFNOS has not independently obtained the signed appellate ruling or its case number. Those records, together with any subsequent extraordinary review or compensation proceedings, remain the appropriate documents for follow-up. No separate wrongdoing by prosecutors is established by the fact that their appeal was unsuccessful.