Italian authorities seize one of world’s largest superyachts from oligarch
Italian authorities have seized a €530m (£444m) superyacht owned by Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko as part of EU sanctions following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sy A – short for Sailing Yacht A – was seized on Friday evening in the port of Trieste after being identified by Italian police as belonging to the billionaire owner of EuroChem Group, a major fertiliser producer, and the coal company SUEK.
Video footage reportedly showed police cars with flashing lights approaching the yacht, said to be one of the largest in the world, and boarding it.
EuroChem and SUEK said in statements on Thursday that Melnichenko had resigned as a member of the board in both companies and withdrawn as their beneficiary, effective on Wednesday.
It comes as Roman Abramovich’s superyacht Solaris was pictured arriving in Tivat, Montenegro, on Saturday. The vessel left a port in Barcelona earlier this week as the UK government imposed sanctions on the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club.
On Thursday, it was tracked off the coast of Sicily after reportedly undergoing repairs earlier in the week in Barcelona, one of a number of apparently hurried sailings of Russian billionaires moving their superyachts to avoid seizure. His other yacht, the more luxurious Eclipse, was on Thursday located to the west of the Canary Islands.
A European Council decision authorising the sanctions against Melnichenko says he was one of 37 business leaders who met with the Russian president after the invasion of Ukraine to talk about the potential economic impact of EU and US sanctions.
Melnichenko, the document states, “belongs to the most influential circle of Russian businesspeople with close connections to the Russian government”.
It adds:
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