Italy Seizes Russian Oligarchs’ Yachts and Villas
Move to seize vessels in Imperia and Sanremo, and villas on Lake Como and Sardinia, comes after French seizure earlier in the week
ROME—Italian police said they seized a number of yachts and villas scattered around the country from wealthy Russian individuals targeted by European Union sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Authorities valued the seized assets at around €140 million, equivalent to around $153 million. Raids started Friday night and went on in the early hours of Saturday, officials said. Western governments have started a push to seize or freeze assets belonging to dozens of sanctioned individuals they say are close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Sanctions will hurt Putin. This is the only way to make him see reason,” Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said late Friday, as police started to identify some of the sanctioned individuals’ Italy-based assets.
The sanctions on individuals are just one part of a multifront effort to hit Moscow economically after Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Western capitals have sanctioned banks and companies, and targeted Russia’s central bank. Earlier this week, French authorities seized a yacht they said belonged to Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russian oil producer Rosneft.
Italian authorities said the most valuable asset seized in the swoop was the yacht Lady M, estimated to be worth some €65 million, which authorities said belongs to Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov, the sanctioned chairman and main shareholder of Russian steel conglomerate Severstal. The yacht was seized in the port of Imperia, in northwestern Italy.
In the nearby port of Sanremo, authorities seized another yacht, Lena, valued at about €50 million, which Italian authorities said belongs to Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko, the sanctioned owner of investment firm Volga Group. The three men weren’t immediately reachable for comment.
The list of seized assets also included luxury properties in glamorous Italian tourist locations. Police said they seized two villas on Lake Como, near actor George Clooney’s residence, worth some €8 million, from Vladimir Soloviev, a presenter on Russian state television. Mr. Soloviev, who was sanctioned by the EU, has said previously it was unfair for his assets to be tied up by the sanctions.
“I bought it, paid crazy amounts of taxes…and suddenly somebody makes a decision that this journalist is now on the list of sanctions,” Mr. Soloviev said on a TV program earlier this week, after finding out he was placed on the sanctions list.
Italian authorities said they also seized a luxury villa on the Emerald Coast in Northern Sardinia, worth an estimated €17 million, which they said belonged to Alisher Usmanov, a sanctioned Russian mining magnate. They also seized the 17th century Villa Lazzareschi in the Tuscan countryside near Lucca, which they said was owned by sanctioned billionaire Oleg Savchenko. The three men couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.