Government authorities in Europe are continuing their push to seize high-dollar assets associated with Russian oligarchs amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin’s forces recently entered the country and have been inflicting devastation ever since. Now, a total of three large yachts (and counting) have been brought under government control in Spain, while in Italy, the government has seized what Reuters describes as a building complex on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The latest yachts seized in Spain include a 443-foot vessel called the Crescent, which is apparently tied to Igor Sechin — the head of the Russian government oil company that’s known as Rosneft. The Italian property is worth around $116.2 million and owned by Alexey Mordashov, who’s apparently made a fortune in steel.
⚡️Ukraine's General Staff: Putin transfers troops from Far East to Belarus.
The troops are being moved from Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in order to make up for casualties in Ukraine, the General Staff said.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 19, 2022
Meanwhile in Spain, another recently seized yacht is called the Lady Anastasia, which is the vessel that was targeted in an infamous incident in which a Ukrainian engineer attempted to sink a high-dollar yacht in protest of the Ukraine war. The Lady Anastasia is apparently owned by Alexander Mijeev, the CEO of a Russian weapons export company called Rosoboronexport; the individual who targeted it, Taras Ostapchuk, indicated that they didn’t regret their actions and would undertake the same sort of thing again. Ostapchuk was released on bail and reportedly went back to Ukraine to join the fight against Russian invaders. The third yacht recently taken into the possession of the Spanish government is called the Valerie, and the values of these things, which routinely reach into the range of hundreds of millions of dollars, indicate that apparently significant slices of Russian fortunes are being essentially frozen amid the war.
⚡️Russian war against Ukraine may push 40 million people into “extreme poverty.”
A March 18 analysis by the U.S. think tank Center for Global Development indicates that food commodity prices since Russia’s full-scale invasion are higher than the price spikes of 2007 and 2010.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 19, 2022
As reported on this site, a remarkably high-dollar vessel that’s apparently the world’s largest sailing yacht and is owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko has been seized by the Italian government amid the worldwide push to hold the Putin regime economically accountable for the unfolding Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Italian authorities ID’ed the vessel as the biggest sailing yacht.) The yacht under dispute is some 470 feet long and is worth around $578 million — a huge asset, both in terms of physical size and financial value. In Italy, the government has also apparently seized a large yacht belonging to Mordashov, the wealthy Russian whose Sardinia property was recently seized by authorities. That yacht clocked in at 215 feet and is apparently worth some 65 million euros, or nearly $72 million.
⚡️Ukraine: Peace talks with Russia could last 'several weeks.'
According to Mykhailo Podolyak, there are signs that Moscow’s position became more “adequate” but negotiations on issues such as security guarantees, withdrawal of Russian troops and a ceasefire “may take longer.”
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 19, 2022
Although officials didn’t publicly specify which yachts were being referenced, the Justice Department recently indicated that they’d already provided information to foreign partners that helped with the captures of certain vessels. “In the last three weeks alone, information provided by U.S. law enforcement to foreign partners has contributed to the restraint of multiple vessels controlled by sanctioned individuals and entities. Collectively, these vessels are estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” officials said in a statement from Wednesday.
⚡️ Armed Forces report another Russian general dead.
According to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Russian Lieutenant-General Andrei Mordvichev, who commanded the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army, was killed in action in southern Ukraine.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 19, 2022
