The yacht “Royal Romance” of the Ukrainian oligarch and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Viktor Medvedchuk, whose value is about 200 million dollars, will be put up for sale – and the proceeds will be transferred to Ukraine. This is the first yacht that was confiscated under the sanctions of the Western countries and is put up for sale in favor of Kyiv.
● A route that bypasses sanctions: a nuclear power plant wants to purchase Monzel natural gas from Russia
● Report: Russia invested a quarter of its annual budget in the invasion of Ukraine
● Yandex Global has announced: they are working to break away from Russia
FBI forces raided Medvedchuk’s ship after it was confiscated in the city of Trogir in Croatia, following a warrant issued by the US Department of Justice on November 15. After that, a court in the city of Split approved its confiscation. The length of the impressive yacht is 92.5 meters. It includes a pool four meters wide, and 14 passengers and 21 crew members can swim in it.
The 68-year-old Medvedevchuk is not an insignificant figure and his closeness to Putin is reflected, for example, in the choice of the Russian president as the godfather of his daughter – Daria. In 2019 he was elected to parliament, and last year Forbes Ukraine estimated his fortune at $620 million. The oligarch owned three TV stations in Ukraine – until President Volodymyr Zelensky decided in February of last year to freeze the oligarch’s assets. This, after the National Security Council in Kyiv placed him on the national sanctions list due to suspicion of financing terrorism and even treason. On the contrary, in January, the US Treasury put Medvedchuk on its sanctions list as well, following “activity to harm the stability of Ukraine”.
Only four days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the oligarch escaped from house arrest where he was placed – however, the Ukrainian security forces managed, once again, to get their hands on him in April. Evidence of Russian President Putin’s affection for Medvedchuk was received in September, when Moscow arranged to transfer the oligarch and 55 Russian prisoners to it in exchange for 215 Ukrainians captured at the end of the siege of Mariupol.
ARMA, a Ukrainian government body entrusted with locating, tracking and managing assets originating from corruption, said that they followed the activity concerning the yacht – and even sent agents on their behalf to Croatia in order to follow up on its confiscation. , “After the confiscation, we received the elite property, in order to preserve its economic value and sell it in an auction.”
The sale of Royal Romance will join a similar move made in September, when Russian oligarch Dmitry Pompiansky’s yacht was sold for $37.5 million. The sold Pompiansky yacht includes a swimming pool, 3D cinema, gym, jacuzzi and spa.
Contrary to the auction of the yacht confiscated from Medvedchuk in favor of Kyiv, the proceeds from this sale of Pompiansky were transferred to the investment bank JP Morgan – due to a debt of 20.5 million euros. Last March, Forbes estimated the fortune of Pompiansky, who started as a metals trader and became a leader in the field of pipe production in Russia, at $2 billion.