Italy has confiscated the yacht Scheherazade located in a shipyard in Marina de Carrara (centre) and which, according to the investigation team of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni, belongs to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a government source announced.
The yacht was under investigation by the Italian police and, on Friday night, the Italian Ministry of Economy communicated the decree ordering it to be confiscated as part of sanctions on Russian oligarchs by the European Union.
The European Union’s sanctions on Russian oligarchs are due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, despite the order for the yacht valued at €650 million (ME) to be confiscated, the name of its owner has not been released. .
According to journalists from the team of the imprisoned Russian opposition, Alexei Navalni, the vessel, over 140 meters long and flying the flag of the Cayman Islands, belongs to Vladimir Putin, although it is formally in the name of the oligarch Eduard Khudaynatov.
Eduard Khudaynatov is the former president of Rosneft and also the owner of the Vila Altachiara mansion in Portofino (northwest), but he does not appear on the list of sanctioned Russian billionaires.
The yacht Sheherazade had been at the shipyard since September 2021, for a series of maintenance works valued at around six million euros and, according to the Italian media, initially, it should be ready to sail in mid-June.
Alexei Navalni’s collaborators pointed out that the entire crew of the yacht, except for the captain, has Russian citizenship.
The vessel, which has a swimming pool, gym and two heliports, including a hangar, is considered the only one with a length of more than 140 meters in the world and whose owner is unknown.
Since the sanctions were passed, Italy has confiscated three other yachts from Russian oligarchs, as well as countless real estate assets worth hundreds of millions of euros.
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