Spain seizes Russian billionaire’s $99 million yacht
Spanish police announced the seizure of the Tango yacht of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, the owner of the group blacklisted by the US.
Spanish police today announced that they had coordinated with US agents to seize a 78-meter yacht in Palma de Mallorca, a port city in the western Mediterranean.
Spanish policemen stand guard next to the Tango yacht in Palma de Mallorca on April 4. Photo: AP.
The $99 million Tango yacht belongs to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, the head of the Renova group. This group and a number of other Russian companies were blacklisted by the US in 2018 in an effort to punish Moscow for its alleged involvement in a number of attacks on “Western democracy”.
Vekselberg is not on the list of European Union sanctions, but he is being investigated in the US for allegedly hiding yacht ownership to avoid Washington’s sanctions.
Spanish and American agents seized documents and computers on the Cook Islands yacht to “confirm the identity of the real owner”. This is the second yacht linked to Russian billionaires confiscated in Spain since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24.
Three other yachts suspected of being owned by Russian oligarchs are on the European Union’s sanctions list for the Ukraine military conflict. Italian and French authorities also confiscated yachts linked to Russian tycoons in an effort to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine.
Hong Hanh (According to AFP)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
