French customs officers have seized the superyacht of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin Amore Vero as part of European Union sanctions against Russia. This was reported by Bloomberg with reference to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
According to French Finance Ministry, Amore Vero have been seized at night in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat, near Marseille, on the Cote d'Azur in France, while the yacht was preparing to leave urgently.
"I thank French customs for applying EU sanctions against people close to Russian leaders," Le Maire wrote on Twitter, referring to the "Russian oligarch."
According to Bloomberg, the yacht belongs to the company whose main shareholder is the head of the Russian oil company. A spokesperson for French Minister of public action and accounts Olivier Dussopt said the ship had been barred from leaving, but the state did not confiscate the asset.
The yacht arrived in La Ciotat in January and was to remain at the shipyard until April 1 for repairs. "At the time of the inspection, the vessel was preparing to urgently raise the anchor without completing the planned work," the Finance Ministry said.
We’d like to remind that Canada has also imposed sanctions against 10 key employees of two major Russian companies in the energy sector Rosneft and Gazprom.