Corriere della Sera learned about litigation due to the confiscation of assets of Russians in Italy

In Italy, companies associated with Russian businessmen have filed appeals with the Specialized Administrative Court (TAR) to challenge the seizure of the property of the Russians who fell under the sanctions, writes Corriere della Sera newspaper.

According to the publication, the total amount of confiscated assets of 28 Russians in Italy is 2.7 billion euros. Businessmen, including Alexey Mordashov, Alisher Usmanov and Andrey Melnichenko, are said to own villas, yachts, aircraft and companies in the country. Lawyers of only 10 Russians participate in court proceedings: according to the newspaper, only one of the initiated cases ended in a verdict.

We are talking about the process between the Italian authorities and the main owner of Severstal, Alexei Mordashov. As the newspaper found out, the businessman appealed against the arrest of the yacht Lady M worth 65 million euros, moored near San Remo. Asmare Enterprises Limited is listed as the owner of the yacht, they called the decision to confiscate political and illegitimate, since this asset does not belong to Mordashov. As a result, the appeal was rejected in court, explaining that the yacht, through several companies, is owned by the businessman’s wife Marina.

After the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, Western countries blocked 300 billion euros of reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and 19 billion euros of private funds of Russian businessmen, said in November 2022 the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Mordashov in February 2022 was among the businessmen and top managers of state-owned companies that were on the EU sanctions list in connection with the Russian military operation in Ukraine. The sanctions include an asset freeze and a ban on entry into the EU. Mordashov said he did not understand why he came under the restrictions, saying he had nothing to do with the Ukrainian crisis.

In early March last year, the yacht of businessman Lady M was detained in Italy. Earlier, Italian authorities also arrested the yachts of Andrei Melnichenko and Gennady Timchenko, the property of Alisher Usmanov and Petr Aven, and the villa of former State Duma deputy Oleg Savchenko. The Kremlin called the seizure of property of Russian businessmen abroad “banditry.” According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, this “demonstrates the danger of doing business” in the West.

The Kremlin called the seizure of property of Russian businessmen abroad “banditry.” According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, this “demonstrates the danger of doing business” in the West.