Another Russian oligarch’s yacht seized in Spain at the request of the US

Spanish authorities have seized in the Balearic Islands the yacht belonging to a Russian magnate close to Vladimir Putin and the subject of Washington’s sanctions, the Spanish Civil Guard said on Monday (4).

The operation was carried out in Palma de Mallorca by agents of the Civil Guard and the US agencies FBI and HSI (Internal Security Investigations), as a result of a US rogatory commission, Spanish police said in a statement.

Named “Tango”, the 78-meter-long yacht, whose value is estimated at 90 million euros (R$ 450 million), is “owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg”, according to the Civil Guard.

Spanish and American agents seized documents and computer equipment to “confirm the identity of the real owner”, as the vessel “has the flag of the Cook Islands and is registered in the name of a company based in the British Virgin Islands, which in turn is managed by Panamanian companies”.

“All this following a complex financial and corporate plot to hide the true ownership of the same,” the statement said.

“Although until now Vekselberg, a person very close to Vladimir Putin, has not been sanctioned by the European Union, he has been sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury.”

There “he is being investigated for tax fraud, money laundering and false documentation in relation to precisely the concealment of the real ownership of this luxury yacht in an attempt to avoid sanctions,” the statement continues.

Vekselberg is part of a list of seven Russian oligarchs close to the Kremlin, sanctioned in April 2018 by Washington, which accuses them of having participated in Russian attacks on Western democracies.

After the imposition of sanctions, the tycoon, domiciled in Switzerland, reduced his participation in numerous industrial companies.

This is the fourth yacht seized in Spain since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The other three are suspected of belonging to billionaires close to President Putin and sanctioned by the European Union.