The United States says Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, owns the mega-yacht Tango.
The United States government has seized a mega-yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Russian president, the first in the government’s sanctions enforcement initiative to “seize and freeze” giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites.
Spain’s Civil Guard and US federal agents descended on the yacht Monday at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
The United States government has seized a mega-yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Russian president, the first in the government’s sanctions enforcement initiative to “seize and freeze” giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites.
Spain’s Civil Guard and US federal agents descended on the yacht Monday at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
Vekselberg, who had been sanctioned by the US in 2018, used US banks to make payments related to the Tango in violation of those sanctions, the department said.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said it was the first seizure by the US of an asset belonging to a Russian sanctioned individual and “will not be the last”.
“Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war,” Garland said in the statement, referring to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Associated Press reporters at the scene saw police entering and leaving the boat on Monday morning.
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