Igor Krasnov
Igor Viktorovich Krasnov is a Russian lawyer serving as the Chief Justice of Russia since September 24, 2025. From 2020 to 2025, he served as Russia's Prosecutor General.
Career
Igor Krasnov was born on December 24, 1975, in Arkhangelsk. He graduated from the Law Faculty of Pomor State University. He was a member of the Komsomol. He began his service as an investigator in the Kholmogorsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast.He started serving in the prosecutor's office in 1997. From 2006 to 2007, Krasnov was an investigator of the central office of the General Prosecutor's Office. In 2007, he joined the Investigative Committee at the prosecutor's office.
In 2011, Krasnov was appointed senior investigator for particularly important cases of the Investigative Committee of Russia. He investigated a number of high-profile criminal cases, including activities of the neo-Nazi group known as "BORN", the murders of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, the assassination attempt on Anatoly Chubais, the assassination of Moscow City Court judge Eduard Chuvashov, the murder of RASH skinhead Ivan Khutorskoy. From 2009 to 2013, he partially investigated the case of the Gang of Amazons.
On February 28, 2015, he headed the investigation team for the assassination of Boris Nemtsov but transferred the case to Major General Nikolai Tutevich for investigation due to his appointment to a higher position.
From September 2014 to March 2015, Krasnov investigated the embezzlement of funds allocated for the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome. In 2015, he headed the investigation team and proceedings in the criminal case concerning the murder of the Romanov family, which the Investigative Committee resumed in 2015.
On April 30, 2016, Krasnov was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee by Chairman Alexander Bastrykin.
On January 20, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed that the Federation Council approve Igor Krasnov as the Prosecutor General of Russia, replacing Yuri Chaika.
Since 2021, Igor Krasnov has been included in the sanctions lists of the European Union, the USA, and Canada due to the case of the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, as he is held responsible for the actions of the Prosecutor General's Office regarding the large-scale detentions of citizens during mass protests in Russian cities in 2021, the replacement of the suspended sentence with a real one in the "Yves Rocher" case, and the blocking of access to the resources of Navalny regional headquarters.
On November 8, 2021, Krasnov filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Russia seeking the liquidation of the Memorial society.
In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 6 April 2022 the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury added Krasnov to its list of persons sanctioned pursuant to.
On August 25, 2025, it was announced that Igor Krasnov had applied for the position of Chief Justice of Russia, which had become vacant following the death of Irina Podnosova in July 2025. Krasnov emerged as the sole candidate for the position. On September 24, 2025, he was relieved of his duties as Prosecutor General and appointed Chief Justice by the Federation Council, following the nomination by President Vladimir Putin.