A court in Moscow has declared Wargaming owner Viktor Kisly and Lesta Games owner Malik Khatazhayev members of an «extremist association.» The assets of the developer of the Russian version of World of Tanks will be transferred to the control of the occupying country’s authorities, but players of «Tanks» will not be punished for supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
A court in Moscow has declared Wargaming owner Viktor Kisly and Lesta Games owner Malik Khatazhayev members of an «extremist association.» The assets of the developer of the Russian version of World of Tanks will be transferred to the control of the occupying country’s authorities, but players of «Tanks» will not be punished for supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In April 2025, the Prosecutor General of Russia accused Khatazhayev and Kysly of extremist activities due to their support for Wargaming Ukraine.
World of Tanks development was split in 2022, when Wargaming left its offices in Russia and Belarus and transferred the development of the Russian version of the game to Lesta Games. In 2023, Wargaming ran a campaign in World of Tanks to raise funds for medical aid in Ukraine. The Russian government decided to interpret this pro-Ukrainian fundraising as anti-Russian extremist activity.
Now, a court in the Russian Federation has upheld the demands of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and ordered the seizure of 100% of the shares in the authorized capital of the company «Lesta Igry» in favor of the state. At the same time, a representative of the State Duma IT Committee, Anton Gorelkin, wrote that Russian players of World of Tanks should not worry about the court’s decision.
«They cannot be accused of supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine or extremism for making in-game purchases. Just as users of the social network Instagram, which is banned in the Russian Federation and belongs to the extremist company Meta, have nothing to fear,» Gorelkin wrote in his Telegram channel.
He added that Lesta’s assets will soon come under state control, and then they will likely be transferred to a «profile Russian company».
Recall that Wargaming retained the brand and global rights to the online games World of Tanks, World of Warships and World of Tanks Blitz. Lesta Games distributes regional versions of these projects in the Russian Federation and Belarus under the names «World of Tanks», «World of Ships» and Tanks Blitz.
