Published: Less than 20 min ago
A conflict surrounding a luxury house in central Amsterdam has taken an unexpected turn with a group of squatters emerging as winners.
The five-story house overlooking the green Vondelpark belongs to Arkady Volosh, co-founder of the Russian search engine Yandex.
The house became empty during the year in connection with the Ukrainian war, and has been taken over by squatters who marked their presence with three large banners with, among other things, protests against the war. A Dutch court has now also given the occupiers the right to continue living in the house as they followed the occupiers’ line, meaning that Volosj would probably try to sell the house in violation of EU sanctions.
The 58-year-old oligarch has connections to the Netherlands as Yandex has been incorporated in the Netherlands but has most of its operations in Russia. However, he chose this summer to step down from the company’s board in order not to be personally affected by the sanctions directed at Yandex from, among other things, the EU.