Spain retains in less than 24 hours a new yacht linked to Russian tycoon

The Spanish authorities held on Tuesday, in the Balearic archipelago, a second yacht of which they seek to prove that it belongs to one of the Russian tycoons sanctioned by the European Union after the invasion of Ukraine, announced the Ministry of Transport.

A first yacht was confiscated on Monday, in Barcelona, as announced Monday night by the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez.

The second boat, 48 meters long and called “Lady Anastasia”, was held in Puerto Adriano, on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca.

The police are checking “whether or not the ownership, possession or control of the ship belongs to a natural or legal person included” on the EU blacklist, and if confirmed, it will be confiscated, the ministry explained in a statement.

According to a police source, authorities suspect that the ship belongs to Alexandre Mikheiev, CEO of Rosoboronexport, a Russian public company in charge of arms sales.

At the end of February, a Ukrainian member of the crew of “Lady Anastasia” was arrested for trying to sink the yacht to take revenge on its owner, local police told AFP

Rosoboronexport is a subsidiary of Rostec, the state conglomerate that brings together the essentials of the Russian military and industrial complex, led by Sergei Chemezov.

In announcing the first retention, Pedro Sánchez said that it was a yacht “of around 140 million dollars (128 million euros)”, and said that more similar shares would come.

According to the newspaper El País, “Valeria” belongs to Sergei Chemezov, a character close to President Vladimir Putin.

“The government is acting diligently, it is part of the European response,” government spokeswoman Isabel Rodríguez said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Sergei Chemezov and Alexandre Mikheev are on the blacklist of the European Union, which on Monday increased with new tycoon names such as Roman Abramovich, owner of the English football club Chelsea.

The Western response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine includes the seizure of bank accounts, mansions and luxury ships of Russian tycoons.

The “L'Amore Vero”, a yacht valued at between 100 and 120 million euros (from 109 million to 131 million dollars), was seized last Thursday in the south of France.

Italy announced on Saturday that it froze some 140 million euros of assets of Russian oligarchs, including two yachts.

One of Roman Abramovich's yachts, the “Solaris”, sailed from Barcelona last week and since Saturday has been in the bay of Montenegro.

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