ITALY — Financial officials in Italy said on Friday that a $700 million megayacht related to Russian President Vladimir Putin had been frozen. However, there is still some ambiguity because Italy did not specify who the owner might be in its decision.The decision comes after Italian inspectors rushed to investigate the ship and prevent it from leaving the Tuscan town of Marina di Carrara. The Scheherazade boat had been in need of repairs long before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to a New York Times writer who visited the marina this week, the vessel had returned to the ocean, raising concerns that it may leave and avoid sanctions.
The ship would have been able to leave until the measures were applied on Friday evening.
The yacht's owner had "prominent" contacts with Russians already under European Union restrictions, according to Italy's finance ministry, which announced the freeze. The owner's identity was not given, and Italy simply stated that the country's government had requested that the person be added to the EU's sanctions list.
Putin Says Russia Sanctions Fail (Bloomberg)Italy's move is termed as "provisional" by a representative for the finance ministry."[Italy] suggested to the European Union Council that the boat's owner be included to the list," the official said. "The name will not be made public until then."
Eduard Khudainatov, a former Russian oil executive, was identified as the boat's owner in March after an investigation by the Italian newspaper La Stampa. However, the publication questioned how someone who was not registered as a billionaire could afford to buy one of the world's most opulent ships.
As a result, the suspicion around Scheherazade has only grown. The owner of the yacht, according to investigators working for imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, is Putin himself. Navalny's team released a list of people who worked on the boat in March, claiming to be the crew list. Members of the Russian state agency in charge of Putin's personal security are among them, according to reports.
"We believe there is sufficient proof that Scheherazade belongs to Putin personally and must be seized immediately," Maria Pevchikh, the head of the Navalny-founded FBK investigation team, stated.
The assets of Russia's ruling and billionaire classes are kept mostly hidden, managed on paper through opaque offshore entities. In some situations, this has made identifying the true owners of homes, yachts, and other expensive things problematic for European countries. According to Pevchikh, the Scheherazade is owned by a Marshall Islands-based offshore firm.
Before Friday, Italy had managed to halt the movement of a $560 million megayacht linked to Andrey Melnichenko, a coal and fertilizer magnate who ranks among Russia's top ten wealthiest persons. Oligarchs vacation in Italy's frozen villas.
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