French authorities have seized a yacht owned by a Russian oligarch that was planning to flee a local shipyard urgently without having completed the planned work on the vessel.
This comes after French customs officials earlier seized several Russian-owned cargo vessels for checks in line with sanctions against it for its invasion of Ukraine.
France seized a car carrier in the English Channel, which was allegedly linked to the son of a former Russian spy chief on February 26, and stopped a second vessel in Lorient Port in Brittany on March 3, according to Reuters.
French Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery, Bruno Le Maire, said in a statement that customs officials had seized the yacht Amore Vero in La Ciotat, as part of the implementation of European Union sanctions against Russia.
“On the night of March 2 to 3, agents from the customs administration seized the yacht Amore Vero at the La Ciotat shipyard, after a check lasting several hours,” Le Maire said.
The yacht was identified as being owned by a company of which Igor Setchine, director of Rosneft, has been identified as the main shareholder.
“This yacht fell within the scope of the freezing measures decided against its owner by implementing regulation (EU) 2022 /336 of the council of February 28.
“Immediately applicable, these measures require the immobilisation of the vessel,” Le Maire said.
The yacht had arrived in La Ciotat on January 3 to carry out repairs.
“At the time of the inspection, the ship was making arrangements to sail urgently, without having completed the planned work.
“At the end of the customs inspection, it was found that this attempt to leave French territorial waters constituted an offence on the basis of article 459 of the customs code, following which the seizure of the vessel was declared,” Le Maire said.
Together with Olivier Dussopt, Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, he said in a statement: “We thank the customs for this seizure carried out within the framework of the implementation of the sanctions of the European Union against Russia."
