The developers of World of Tanks have been declared an “extremist organisation.”

The Tagansky District Court of Moscow has recognised Malik Khatazhaev, owner of the gaming studio Lesta, and Viktor Kisly, owner of the company Wargaming, as participants in an extremist organisation, following a lawsuit by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Sotavision reports.

The state has seized Lesta’s shares as revenue. Previously, the studio’s assets were frozen as a preliminary protective measure.

At the end of April 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit against Khatazhaev and Kisly. The state prosecution cited material with headlines such as: “The most military game—World of Tanks against Russia’s special operation,” “How Wargaming survived 25 years and coped with the war in Ukraine,” and “Wargaming launched a charity project with Ukrainian content in games to raise funds for ambulances.”

In 2022, Lesta studio acquired the rights to localise and manage the operations of World of Tanks and World of Warships in Russia and certain other CIS countries. This happened after their original owner, the Belarusian company Wargaming, left the Russian market due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In 2023, Wargaming organised a charity campaign, donating part of the proceeds from in-game sales to humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Afterwards, Lesta stated that its projects had been “apolitical” since the previous year and advised players “to be cautious when making payments and purchases online, so as not to violate the laws of the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus.”