The "Lady M," is a luxury yacht worth around 65 million euros. The vessel was seized over the weekend on the Italian Mediterranean coast. The owner: Alexei Mordashov, one of the richest men in Russia is a major shareholder in the German tourism company TUI.
Yachts, airplanes, company shares and luxury real estate abroad are considered assets and therefore fall under the sanctions against the country.
On the Cote d' Azur, a mega-yacht owned by Russian billionaire and Putin supporter Igor Setchin was prevented from sailing. Literally at the last minute. It is valued at around 120 million euros.
Sanctions are hitting the richest Russians, such as Putin confidant and entrepreneur, Alisher Usmanov. His luxury yacht is one of the largest in the world, worth around 600 million euros. It’s docked in a shipyard in Hamburg and could soon be confiscated.
The US has also imposed sanctions on Usmanov and seven other oligarchs close to Putin. These include Nikolay Tokarev, the head of energy giant Transneft, as well as billionaire Arkady Rotenberg and his brother. There are also visa restrictions on 19 other Russian billionaires. Yevgeny Prigozhin is on the FBI's wanted list. He is known as Putin's cook, running a catering company that serves meals to the Kremlin. He is also believed to be one of the founders of the Wagner Group, a paramilitary unit that recently sent 400 mercenaries in an attempt to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
