[imagesource: Valery Hache / AFP via Getty Images]

The campaign to freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs who have been sanctioned due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still going strong.

The latest casualty is apparently the world’s largest (according to Barron’s) and most expensive sailing yacht, owned by the Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.

Melnichenko, who has made his fortune as a major fertiliser producer as well as running coal company SUEK, is just one among the many Russian billionaires believed to have close ties with Vladimir Putin.

His estimated $580 million, 140-metre “Sailing Yacht A” superyacht was dramatically seized in the Italian port of Trieste on Friday:

Image: Jure Makovec / AFP

NewsAU has more:

A “freeze and seize” task force was created by the European Union earlier in the month to identify and seize the assets of these individuals in a bid to cripple the Russian financial sector and force the country to withdraw from the war.

Megayachts, private jets, and mansions are the main assets seized by this task force.

As soon as the US, UK, and Europe announced sanctions against the Russian oligarchs, many of them managed to escape to the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and small nations like Montenegro and the Maldives, on their lavish yachts, where sanction laws are more easily evaded.

VICE has an interesting exposé on how the Russian oligarchs are hiding their million-dollar yachts if you want to know more about that.

Melnichenko clearly wasn’t quick enough in protecting his assets, with footage of officials taking hold of his Sy A (the boat’s nickname) being shared on Twitter.

This video of the moment was posted by the media advisor to the Italian Prime Minister:

Italy’s financial police (@GDF) has just frozen “SY A” – a sailing yacht worth ~€530m located in the Port of Trieste. The yacht could be linked indirectly to Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko – an individual in the EU sanctions list. pic.twitter.com/fRg6ZTIQRH

— Ferdinando Giugliano (@FerdiGiugliano) March 12, 2022

Another video shows police cars approaching the boat:

Sanzioni contro la Russia:
A Trieste, nel rimessaggio del porto, è stato sequestrato dalla Guardia di Finanza lo yacht a vela più grande del mondo, del valore di 530 milioni di euro. Lo “SY A” è riconducibile all’imprenditore russo Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko. pic.twitter.com/xj0V728Qsa

— Tg La7 (@TgLa7) March 11, 2022

Following the financial sanctions, Melnichenko was forced to step down as a member of the board in both his companies and has withdrawn as their beneficiary:

The EU sanction said he “belongs to the most influential circle of Russian businesspeople with close connections to the Russian government”.

“He is therefore involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine,” it added.

A spokesperson for Melnichenko, Alex Andreev, is pleading to authorities that the sanctioned individual has nothing to do with the tragedy occurring in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Italian authorities have been hard at work, seizing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets belonging to other Russian billionaires in the past week.

[sources:barrons&newsau&vice]