The management of the large publishing house Eksmo (part of the Eksmo-AST holding), led by general director Evgeny Kapyev, became involved in a criminal case on extremism. According to investigators, the entrepreneurs were involved in the sale to “an unspecified circle of persons,” including minors, of books “promoting the activities” of the LGBT movement, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.
Evgeniy Kapyev, financial director of Eksmo Svetlana Tseplyakova, distribution director Anatoly Norovyatkin and deputy director of First Edition for commercial activities Yulia Sokolovskaya were taken on April 21 for investigative actions to the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for Moscow. This was preceded by a series of searches and seizures of documents, which were carried out, including in the homes of the defendants. Since the Zamoskvoretsky court did not issue appropriate sanctions, the actions were formalized as urgent investigative measures. Eksmo-AST clarified to Kommersant that no searches were carried out at the publishing house’s office.
Eksmo Publishing House was founded in 1991. At first the company worked in the field of book wholesale trade, and in 1993 it began independent publishing activities. In 2012, after the merger of two largest publishing houses – Eksmo and AST – the Eksmo-AST group was formed. Today it occupies a leading position in the commercial literature market. In 2025, it published almost 12 thousand book titles with a circulation of 50.5 million copies. According to SPARK-Interfax, the revenue of Eksmo LLC over the past year increased by 15.4%, to 25 billion rubles, net profit – by 18.2%, to 2.6 billion rubles.
Evgeny Kapyev was born on May 29, 1980 in Belgorod. Graduated from the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. Studied at IMD in Switzerland, Synergy business school and Singularity university. He began working at Eksmo in 2007 as executive director of the editorial office of foreign literature. In 2008, he headed the editorial office of applied literature. In 2018, he was appointed general director of the publishing house.
A source close to the investigation told Kommersant that the defendants are planned to be interrogated in a criminal case initiated in May 2025 under Part 3 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organizing the activities of an extremist organization using official position). Based on the results of the interrogations, he noted, a decision will be made about which of the Eksmo management will remain in the status of a witness, and who will be formally charged with committing a crime, for which they face up to ten years in prison. The measure of restraint for the accused will be chosen in the same Zamoskvoretsky court on April 22–23.
Most likely, the case will end with house arrests – in this case we are talking about publishers, and not persons committing violent crimes.
Kommersant’s sources say that about a dozen people are already being investigated in this case, three of whom are being held under house arrest. According to the investigation, from November 2023 to September 2024, employees of the publishing house Individuum organized the sale, including to minors, of more than 1 thousand books “promoting the activities of the LGBT movement” (the LGBT movement is recognized as extremist and is prohibited in the Russian Federation). As part of this case, Eksmo distribution director Anatoly Norovyatkin was detained (after interrogation he was released), one of the leaders of Individuum and Popcorn Books Dmitry Protopopov, former Individuum sales director Pavel Ivanov and warehouse manager Artem Vakhlyaev. In February of this year, their house arrests were once again extended. The investigation against them is in its final stages.
Popcorn Books itself was originally a brand under which the Irish Bookmate Limited (recognized by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as a foreign agent) and the publishing house Individuum (now also part of the Eksmo-AST holding) began to develop the direction of youth literature. In 2021, Popcorn Books released the novel “Summer in a Pioneer Tie” by Elena Malisova and Katerina Silvanova (recognized by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as foreign agents), which became the best-selling work of fiction in monetary terms in the first half of 2022. The novel was withdrawn from sale after the adoption at the end of the same year of a law banning LGBT propaganda among all categories of the population (the LGBT movement is recognized as extremist and is prohibited in the Russian Federation).
In 2023, Eksmo Publishing House received 51% of Popcorn Books LLC.
The transaction amount was not disclosed; RBC estimated the asset at no more than 60 million rubles. On April 11, 2024, the LLC was liquidated, as follows from SPARK-Interfax data. In January 2026 Popcorn Books announced about closure.
“Leto,” according to court decisions that prohibited its distribution from 2023, “contains a large amount of information (many text fragments) describing non-traditional sexual relationships (pedophilia and homosexuality).” In this regard, “this book can cause significant harm to the health, moral and spiritual development of children.” Experts made a similar conclusion based on the book “What the Swallow is Silent About.”
Eksmo sent letters to its stores about the disposal or return of about 50 books, including “Summer” and “Swallows,” which aroused great interest among security officials. However, by that time the investigative mechanism had already been launched – thus the case from the distributors reached their leaders.
Eksmo-AST confirmed the investigative actions involving Mr. Kapyev and a number of other employees of the publishing house, refraining from detailed comments on the case.
