Since Monday March 14, Spain has also applied European sanctions against Russian oligarchs and announced the seizure of three yachts this week in its Mediterranean ports. With the seizures of yachts, true symbols of massive enrichment, the Russian oligarchy is directly targeted.
In two days, Spain has immobilized three yachts in its Mediterranean ports of Barcelona, Majorca and Tarragona, reports our correspondent in Barcelona, Elise Gazengel. All are suspected of belonging to Russian oligarchs close to the Kremlin: Serguei Chemezov, the number 1 of the gigantic Russian public armament company, Alexander Mijeev, boss of a company selling arms and helicopters – whose The boat had also been sabotaged by a Ukrainian employee at the end of February – and Igor Setchin, oil magnate, former Deputy Prime Minister and close friend of Vladimir Putin.
All three are part of the blacklist of personalities sanctioned by the EU. Problem: the Spaniards must now prove that they are the owners of these boats which all fly the flags of tax havens and are in the names of front companies. Spanish justice thus authorized last Monday the temporary immobilization of goods even before their real ownership is proven. A few days before this judicial authorization, the Solaris (140 meters, eight decks and 48 cabins), presumed yacht of Roman Abramovichthe owner of the Chelsea football club, left Barcelona in a hurry to escape sanctions.
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Nearly 500 Russian personalities or entities targeted
Last week in Italyassets worth 143 million euros, including grandiose villas in Sardinia belonging to Russian oligarchs, were frozen and the Italian financial police also seized the SY Aalso called White pearl, billionaire Andrey Melnichenko. Designed by Frenchman Philippe Starck, the SY A was moored in the port of Trieste in northeastern Italy. At 143 meters in length, the 2017 vessel is said to be the world’s largest private sailing motor yacht.
In France since the beginning of the month, five Russian ships have been intercepted.
European sanctions target nearly 500 Russian personalities or entities, whose assets and economic resources must be gradually frozen as European states manage to locate them and link them to their owners. Previous Western sanctions packages have already frozen some $300 billion in Russian reserves abroad, which could prevent Russia from meeting several foreign currency debt payment deadlines in March-April.
► To read also: Sanctions against Russia: the yachts of the oligarchs in the sights of Western countries