Approved unanimously: Igor Krasnov and Alexander Gutsan appointed to key positions in the legal system

Igor Krasnov, who has headed the Prosecutor General's Office since 2020, was unanimously approved by the Federation Council for the post of Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The corresponding decree was signed by Vladimir Putin. Alexander Gutan, the representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the North-Western Federal District, was also appointed to the post of Prosecutor General on Wednesday. His candidacy was also approved by the Federation Council and approved by the president. What tasks the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Prosecutor General's Office will face under the new leaders, as well as the biographies of Igor Krasnov and Alexander Gutsan, are in the Izvestia material.

How to appoint the Chairman of the Supreme Court

The Federation Council, on the proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin, unanimously approved the candidacy of Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov for the post of Chairman of the Supreme Court (SC). The procedure is conducted by secret ballot, and according to the law, the chairman holds a high position for 6 years.

Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General of Justice and Full State Adviser of Justice Igor Viktorovich Krasnov turned out to be the only candidate who decided to run for the post of chief judge after the death of the former chairman Irina Podnosova.

In the recent history of Russia, before Krasnov, this post was held by representatives of the judicial department.: Vyacheslav Lebedev headed the supreme court from December 25, 1991 to February 23, 2024, and Irina Podnosova wore the mantle of Chairman of the Supreme Court from April 17, 2024 to July 22, 2025. Both died while in office. Igor Krasnov, unlike his predecessors, is initially an employee of the prosecutor's office.

Who is Igor Krasnov?

Igor Krasnov, who was elected Chief Judge of the Russian Federation, was born in Arkhangelsk on December 24, 1975. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Lomonosov Pomeranian State University (now the Northern (Arctic) Federal University). I joined the supervisory authority as a student. In 1997, Krasnov began working as an investigator in the Kholmogorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region, and in 2006 he became an investigator at the central office of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. In 2007, he joined the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, established in the same year, as a senior investigator for particularly important cases under the First Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. After the 2011 reform, when the Investigative Committee became an independent federal agency, Igor Krasnov continued to serve in the Investigative Committee.

From 2016 to 2020. He was Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, where he oversaw the work of the Main Directorate for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases and the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. And on January 22, 2020, when, on the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation, Igor Krasnov was unanimously appointed by the Federation Council to the post of Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. He replaced Yuri Chaika, who had been at the helm of the Prosecutor General's Office for a record 14 years. On January 22, 2025, the president reassigned Krasnov to this position for another five years, but now circumstances have changed.

Igor Krasnov's award list includes the Order of Alexander Nevsky (2021), the State Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (2011), the Certificate of Honor from the President of the Russian Federation (2014), as well as departmental and jubilee medals, including for impeccable service. He was awarded the Order of the Holy Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, II degree (2023) by the Russian Orthodox Church.

According to Igor Krasnov, the judicial system needs to be developed. The new Chairman of the Supreme Court is not against further humanization of justice, but only if the rights of victims are not violated. Igor Krasnov unequivocally opposed the return of the death penalty.

Igor Krasnov's reaction to his appointment as Chairman of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

Krasnov called his nomination for the post the highest trust on the part of the president.

"First of all, I would like to note that I regard the presentation by the President of Russia on my candidacy for the post of Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation as a manifestation of the highest confidence," he said, the broadcast of the meeting was published on the website of the Federation Council. Krasnov also noted that the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General's Office have a long history of constructive and professional cooperation on a wide range of issues.

Who is Alexander Gutsan?

The candidacy of Alexander Gutan, an Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, for the post of Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation was unanimously approved by the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and Defense. Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed him to the post by his decree on September 24.

"To appoint Alexander Vladimirovich Gutsan as the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, relieving him of his post," follows from the document published on the official Internet portal of legal information. It is specified that the decree came into force from the date of its signing.

The term of office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation is 5 years. Until recently, this position was held by Igor Krasnov.

Alexander Gutsan is called a classic prosecutor's employee. He was born on July 6, 1960 in the village of Siversky, Leningrad region. He went through the standard path of a law enforcement officer for the Soviet era — from a worker to a qualified lawyer. So, from the age of 16, he studied the specialty of a toolmaker, then worked at the Leningrad Electrotechnical Plant. From 1978 to 1981, Gutsan served in the armed forces — he served in the Navy. After the army, he entered the Faculty of Law of Leningrad State University named after A.A. Zhdanov (now St. Petersburg State University). At the university, he was the head of the group and the komsomol of the course, went on raids with the operational squad of the squad, protecting law and order.

Gutsan's classmates were people who hold high positions today: Dmitry Medvedev, the current Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Konstantin Chuichenko, the Minister of Justice, and Nikolai Vinnichenko, the Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia.

After graduating from university in 1987, Gutsan began serving in the prosecutor's office from the trainee level. Then he worked as a prosecutor in the department for supervision of the consideration of criminal cases in the courts of the Leningrad Prosecutor's Office. From 1989 to 1992, he was an assistant prosecutor overseeing investigations in the state security agencies.

At the turn of the epoch, the Hutsan did not leave the service in his native department. Until 1995, he worked as a prosecutor in the Department for supervision of the enforcement of laws on federal security of the Prosecutor's Office of now St. Petersburg. For the next five years, he worked as the head of the Department for Supervision of the enforcement of federal security laws at the St. Petersburg Prosecutor's Office. In 2000, he became an assistant to the Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia for Special assignments in St. Petersburg. From 2005 to 2007, he temporarily changed his field of activity — he worked as deputy director of the Federal Bailiff Service, which at that time was headed by his classmate Nikolai Vinnichenko.

In 2007, Alexander Gutsan took over the post of Deputy Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. In 2018, according to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he moved from this position to the post of Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the North-Western Federal District, replacing Alexander Beglov. Since November 2018, Gutsan has also been a member of the Presidential Council for Strategic Development and National Projects.

Alexander Gutsan was awarded the Order of Honor and the Order of Friendship, as well as certificates of honor from the government and the President of the Russian Federation. He also has a commendation for his services in ensuring the activities of the President of the Russian Federation and many years of diligent work.

Alexander Gutsan's reaction to the appointment of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation

Alexander Gutan called the appointment to the post of Prosecutor General a great honor.

"I will not hide that for me the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, is a great honor. I regard it as a manifestation of trust, based on personal, professional qualities and work experience in various government positions, including the Prosecutor General's Office. The activities of the supervisory authority and the tasks they face are well known to me, I know them firsthand," Gutan said at a joint meeting of the constitutional and defense committees of the Federation Council.

Colleagues describe him as a principled, demanding and competent representative of the old law school. He perceives the slightest deviations from the law extremely negatively, and treats his subordinates with care. Gutsan is known as a staunch opponent of collection agencies.