France announced Thursday that it has immobilized a yacht owned by Russian oligarch Igor Setchine, head of the state oil company Rosneft, the first of which is seized within the framework of international sanctions on personalities linked to the Vladimir Putin regime.
(Don’t stop reading: Life, 80 meters underground, in a shelter of the Kiev metro)
The Ministry of Economy and Finance explained in a statement that it was customs agents who proceeded to seize the Love Vero in the shipyards of the port of La Ciotat, on the French Mediterranean coast, where he had arrived on January 3 to carry out a series of repairs.
(Read: Russia intensifies its military offensive before a new round of negotiations)
In principle, the yacht was to remain in the shipyard until April 1, but it was being prepared to leave and given the risk that it would leave jurisdictional waters, the French authorities decided to seize it.
On the basis of the European sanctions device formalized by the European Union on February 28 to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, it has been immobilized.
The French Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire, thanked the customs agents for their performance in their mission to “respect the sanctions of the European Union against those close to Russian power.”
This is the first asset seized by its officials, who are identifying all the financial assets, goods and properties of the 488 Russian personalities subject to sanctions that may be in France, a number that could increase in the future.
Immobilizations in Germany
Three yachts that, according to the media, are owned by Russian oligarchs have been immobilized by the German authorities in a shipyard in Hamburg (north), while the possibility of seizing them as part of the sanctions against Russia is being studied.
The vessels are located at the Blohm + Voss (B+V) shipyard and include the “Dilbar“, one of the largest private yachts in the world with 156 meters in length and allegedly owned by tycoon Alisher Burjanovich Usmanov.
According to the agency’s Billionaires Index Bloombergthe yacht, which was undergoing repairs, has an estimated value of 594 million dollars (536 million euros).
In the dry dock of B+V there is also the “Moon“, built in 2010 on behalf of Roman Abramovich, until now owner of the Chelsea football club, who would have sold it in 2014 to the Azeri businessman Farjad Ajmédov.
The Hamburg financial authority reported, in statements quoted by the specialized magazine “Float”, that the customs police are examining the possibility of seizing the vessels due to sanctions against Russian businessmen linked to the war in Ukraine.
That will only be possible “if the goods in question are subject to sanctions. No yacht will leave the port that is not allowed,” said a spokeswoman for the Hamburg authorities, according to “Float”.
Alisher Usmanov, a tycoon close to Russian President Vladimir Putinwith interests in the mining, metallurgy and telecommunications industries, also owns several villas in the German town of Rottach (south).
Several hundred neighbors demonstrated this Wednesday with the message that the billionaire, who is on the European sanctions list, is not welcome in the place while the war in Ukraine continues.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE
More world news
– ‘Everyone knows that a third world war can only be nuclear’
– Ukraine: a million people have fled the country due to the Russian invasion
– Dorothea Puente, the sweet grandmother who turned out to be a cruel serial killer
#France #seizes #Russian #oligarchs #yacht #war #sanctions