Scheherazade, one of the world’s largest and most expensive yachts allegedly linked to Russian billionaires, docked at the port of the small Italian town of Marina di Carrara, Italy, on March 23, 2022. REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini
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ROME, May 6 (Reuters) – The Italian government ordered police on Friday to confiscate a luxury yacht worth about $ 700 million that has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the media.
The elegant six-deck Scheherazade has been undergoing renovations in the Italian port of Marina di Carrara since September, but recent dock operations have suggested that the crew may be preparing to go to sea.
A source with direct knowledge of the weeks-long investigation into the ship said police believed the owner was Eduard Khudainatov, the former head of Russian energy giant Rosneft (ROSN.MM), which is not currently subject to EU sanctions.
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In a statement announcing the seizure order, the finance ministry did not name the owner, saying only that he had ties to “prominent elements of the Russian government”.
The ministry said the owner himself was not on any sanctions list drawn up by Brussels after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, it says Rome has asked Brussels to rectify this and has ordered the boat to be confiscated pending a decision.
Police boarded the yacht late Friday to carry out the order, the Italian government said.
Addressing the Italian parliament in March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the government to confiscate the yacht as part of a pan-European effort to put pressure on Putin and his aides to stop the attack on Ukraine.
Italy confiscated villas and yachts worth more than 900m euros ($ 950m) in March and April from wealthy Russians who regularly come to the country on holiday and buy property in many prestigious places.
However, police told Reuters that they were finding it difficult to identify the real owner of Scheherazade, which is registered in the Cayman Islands and was built by the German company Luerssen.
Delivered to its mysterious owner in 2020, the yacht has two helicopter landings and can accommodate 18 guests and 40 crews.
An organization set up by incarcerated Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Putin, released a report in March showing evidence that the boat belonged to Putin.
It says many of its crew have been evacuated by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSO), which is tasked with defending the Russian president.
At the time, the Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment on whether Putin was the owner or whether the FSO members were crew members.
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Report by Crispian Ballmer and Emilio Parodi; Edited by Chris Reese and Sandra Mahler
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