Exclusive-Spain, France have owners pay for yachts frozen under Russia
sanctions
Send a link to a friend
[October 20, 2022]
By Joan Faus and Layli Foroudi
BARCELONA/PARIS (Reuters) - Spain and
France have authorized the owners of superyachts frozen under sanctions
against Russian businessmen to pay for their upkeep, three sources told
Reuters.
In Spain, six vessels were frozen following sanctions imposed after
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. The "majority" of the owners
are paying their maintenance, crew, docking and insurance fees, a source
with knowledge of the matter said.
Individuals are normally restricted from making financial transactions
in jurisdictions where they are sanctioned but the Spanish and French
governments are authorising the payments under EU and national
legislation, according to three sources.
Spain's Finance Ministry told Reuters that a 2014 law - adopted after
Russia's annexation of Crimea that year - allows sanctioned individuals
to make essential payments for the upkeep of assets. The ministry did
not confirm whether payments have been authorized.
The payments come after pledges from some Western governments to make
targeting the luxury assets of allies of Russia's President Vladimir
Putin central to their efforts to punish Moscow.
In March, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez vowed, when announcing
the freezing of one yacht in Spain, to hit Putin's allies "decisively"
and "hard".
So far, only one immobilised yacht has been sold: the Axioma was
auctioned in Gibraltar in August at the behest of a bank owed money, JP
Morgan, rather than a government.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Oct/20/images/ads/current/guzzardos_sda_FOOTBALL_2022.png)
Proposals by the United States and European Union to sell seized Russian
assets and give the proceeds to Ukraine have stalled.
In France and Spain, the decision to freeze rather than seize luxury
assets thought to be owned by sanctioned Russians means that their
running costs remain the owner's responsibility, according to Spain's
Finance Ministry, a French maritime lawyer and two representatives of
frozen vessels in France.
James Jaffa, a lawyer for British firm Jaffa & Co specialized in yachts,
including for Russian clients, said that the maintenance costs of such
yachts was often "pocket change" for their owners, while the non-payment
of fees could allow creditors like shipyards to request that courts
authorize the seizure and sale of a yacht to liquidate debts. "Sanctions
do not seem to have the crippling effect that was intended," Jaffa said.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/102022PIX/news_v4.jpg)
Superyacht Meridian A, formerly
registered as Valerie (linked to chief of Russian state aerospace
and defence conglomerate Rostec, Sergei Chemezov), is docked at
Marina Vela Barcelona port while it's frozen by Spanish authorities
in Barcelona, Spain, September 21, 2022. REUTERS/Albert Gea
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Oct/20/images/ads/current/longviewbank_lda_PPP_2022.png)
Port management company Ocibar said that the owners of two yachts
frozen under the sanctions in Spain and moored at its facilities in
Tarragona and Mallorca - the Crescent and the Lady Anastasia - were
making payments, including for docking and utilities' fees and a
skeleton crew.
Ocibar said it was following procedures established by authorities
and declined to confirm the owners' identity or the costs involved.
Spanish authorities believe the Crescent is controlled by Eduard
Khudainatov, a sanctioned former chief of Russian energy giant
Rosneft, a government source told Reuters. Khudainatov, contacted
via his company Independent Oil and Gas, did not respond to requests
for comment.
The Lady Anastasia is registered by the public shipping database
Equasis as owned by a company named Homeland Shipping Limited.
Spanish authorities believe that firm is controlled by Alexander
Mikheev, the sanctioned head of weaponry group Rosoboronexport, said
a source with knowledge of the matter.
Mikheev, contacted through Rosoboronexport, did not respond to
requests for comment. Homeland, contacted via a lawyer representing
it, as well as the vessel's registered manager also did not respond
to Reuters' questions.
In France, five yachts have been frozen. Alexey Kuzmichev, the
sanctioned shareholder of Russia's Alfa Bank, has been paying for
his two frozen vessels in Cannes and Antibes under a 2014 European
Union law that allows payments for the maintenance of frozen
property, his lawyer Philippe Blanchetier told Reuters.
Kuzmichev declined to comment, he added. A court in early October
ordered the release of the yacht in Antibes due to procedural errors
during its seizure. A decision on the second yacht is pending.
France's Finance Ministry confirmed that EU rules allow payments but
declined to say whether requests had been authorised.
(Reporting by Joan Faus in Barcelona and Layli Foroudi in Paris,
additional reporting by Aislinn Laing, Jesús Aguado, Belén Carreño,
Javier Alvarez, Jonathan Saul and Emilio Parodi, Writing by Joan
Faus, Editing by Aislinn Laing and Daniel Flynn)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |