Source: Times News Express
On Friday, May 6, the Italian government directed the police to impound a luxury yacht which is worth around $700 million. In the media, this yacht has been reportedly linked to Russian President Vladamir Putin. The luxurious, six deck yacht, Scheherazade was in the process of extensive repairs, stationed at the Italian port of Marina di Carrara since September. However, recent occurrences at the dockside indicated that the crew could possibly be getting ready to venture to sea.
According to a source, the police believed that the former chief of Russian energy giant Rosneft, Eduard Khudainatov is the owner of this grand vessel. Khudainatov is known to not be a target of European Sanctions at the moment. The source apparently possesses direct knowledge of the ongoing investigation into the yacht going on for weeks. However, the finance ministry did not specifically name the owner while announcing the seizure order in a statement. It only mentioned that the possible owner of it had link to ‘prominent’ aspects of the government of Russia.
It said that he had ties to “prominent elements of the Russian government”.
Moreover, the ministry specified that this owner was not exactly on any of the sanctions lists which Brussels drew up after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. On the other hand, it specified that Rome had requested Brussels to rectify this, ordering them to seize the boat till they reach a decision. Late on Friday, the Police boarded the yacht in order to carry out the order, according to the Italian government.
In March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had pushed the government to impound the vessel in an address to the Italian parliament. This would be a part of European efforts to drive Putin and his associates to suspend the war in Ukraine. Simultaneously, Italy confiscated properties such as villas and yachts, possibly worth over $950 million from rich Russians in the last two months. These Russians were ones who regularly came to Italy on vacations, bringing in property is several reputable areas.
According to the police, they had struggled to find the real owner of the vessel, which was built by German firm Luerssen and registered at the Cayman Island. Scheherazade appears to have two helicopter landing pads, with the ability to host 18 guests and 40 crew. It was delivered to its unidentified owner in the year 2020.
An organisation released a report this March claiming to have proof of the boat belonging to Putin. The organisation was established by the incarcerated Alexei Navalny, an active critic of Putin. It stated that many of the crews were from the Federal Protective Service (FSO) of Russia, generally responsible for the protection of their President.
