A superyacht belonging to Russian oil czar, Igor Sechin has been seized in France. This follows the seizure of another Russian yacht in Germany on Wednesday.
The vessel, “Amore Vero,” was seized at a shipyard at La Ciotat on the French Riviera, a popular summer playground for the super-rich where many tycoons moor their vessels for pleasure or maintenance.
Igor Sechin is said to be a part of President Vladmir Putin’s inner circle. He was a former deputy prime minister, and is currently the chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft.
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The seized yacht, a 280ft vessel is not directly owned by Sechin, but rather by a company in which Sechin is the main shareholder, according to a statement for the French finance ministry.
The statement gave reasons and how the yacht was seized;
“French customs carried out the seizure of the yacht Amore Vero in La Ciotat as part of the implementation of sanctions by the European Union against Russia.”
A yacht linked to Putin himself, Graceful was oved from the German port of Hamburg to the Russian enclave of Kalingrad on the Baltic Sea in early February according to data on Marinetraffic.com.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
