A Moscow district court has handed a four-year suspended sentence to Pavel Ivanov, the former sales director of the now-defunct publishing house Popcorn Books, after he admitted to charges of participating in and involving others in the activities of an extremist organisation. The Zamoskvoretsky court also confiscated nearly 2.7 million roubles in what it deemed criminal proceeds and barred Ivanov from publishing books or administering websites for four years. The verdict, delivered in a single day, matched the prosecution’s request and rested on Ivanov’s full admission of guilt and his pre-trial cooperation agreement with investigators.

According to the prosecution’s case, as presented in court, Ivanov and his co-defendants—former Popcorn Books director Dmitry Protopopov and warehouse manager Artem Vakhlyaev—formed an organised group within the Eksmo publishing holding to sell remaining stocks of books with LGBTQ themes after Russia’s Supreme Court designated the “international LGBT movement” as extremist. The indictment described a two-tier system: a “red” list of already prohibited titles destined for sale only abroad, and a “yellow” list of books that might attract official scrutiny but could still be distributed domestically. The state alleged that the group’s aim was to draw minors into the banned movement, a charge Ivanov did not contest.

Court records show the investigation was triggered by a “control purchase” operation in early 2024, in which security forces used a 15- or 16-year-old girl to order books from the red list. Ivanov, who told the court he had resigned in October 2024 because he understood his work was illegal, characterised his testimony against colleagues and Eksmo managers as a “civic duty.” He stated that he had long supported President Vladimir Putin, had once patrolled for “perverts” as a Komsomol member, and would have volunteered for the front in Ukraine were it not for a heart condition. His cooperation led investigators to detain and question Eksmo’s general director Evgeny Kapyev and three other senior executives in April 2026; they were released as witnesses and have not been charged.

The case has already reshaped Russia’s publishing landscape. Popcorn Books, known for young-adult titles including the bestselling “Summer in a Pioneer Tie,” ceased operations in January 2026, and its creative team moved to a new imprint. The remaining defendants, Protopopov and Vakhlyaev, had their house arrest replaced with a ban on certain actions in May 2026. With Ivanov’s conviction now finalised, attention turns to whether prosecutors will escalate the case against the Eksmo leadership, who remain under obligation to appear, and to the trials of the other former Popcorn Books staff, which are expected to proceed in the coming months.