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Superyacht Valerie in Barcelona port a few days ago. Inés Baucells/ABC

Spain seizes a Russian oligarch’s 140-million-euro megayacht in Barcelona

The Ministry of Transport has ordered the Valerie, an 85 metre-long vessel which allegedly belongs to a businessman close to Putin, to be “provisionally retained”

R.C.

Madrid

Tuesday, 15 March 2022

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The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Monday, 14 March, that the government has seized a yacht in Barcelona port which is worth 140 million euros and belongs to a Russian oligarch. This is part of the sanctions being imposed on the Putin regime and those close to the Russian president, which Sánchez said are having an effect. The prime minister said there will be more to come.

He also pointed out, however, that these operations are complicated because the true owners of many assets are hidden behind companies, so intelligence services in the EU and elsewhere are having to share information to find them. “We have to act forcefully to hit Putin, his regime and his oligarchs who, as part of this system of corruption, have become rich by oppressing the Russian people,” he said.

The 85 metre-long megayacht seized on Monday is called Valerie, flies the St Vincent and the Grenadines flag, and is in fact in the name of a company. However, the true owner is said to be Sergey Chemezov who is closely linked to the Russian president whom he has known for years since they both worked for the KGB in the German Democratic Republic.

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