Spain seizes $140M yacht linked to Russian oligarch

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spanish officials have seized a yacht linked to Russian oligarch Sergey Chemezov in the Port of Barcelona as part of EU sanctions on President Vladimir Putin’s allies.

“Today we seized – the technical term is provisionally immobilized – a yacht belonging to one of the main oligarchs,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told Spanish broadcaster La Sexta late Monday.

This is the first Russian yacht seized by Spanish officials, but Sanchez said “there will be more.”

According to Spanish daily El Pais, the Valerie yacht is flying a St. Vincent and the Grenadines flag and is owned by a shell company, making it difficult to verify ownership.

For now, authorities are holding the 85-meter yacht while they confirm its true owner.

However, the Pandora Papers tax leaks revealed that Chemezov’s family has a vast network of offshore wealth. This includes the superyacht seized in Barcelona, which is believed to be indirectly owned by Chemezov’s step-daughter.

Chemezov is a former KGB agent who befriended Putin when they were both stationed in East Germany in the 1980s.

In 2007, Putin appointed Chemezov as the CEO of the state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec.

When the war in Ukraine broke out, Spanish ports were hosting several yachts linked to Russian oligarchs. The largest was the Solaris yacht owned by Roman Abramovich, but it left the Barcelona port last week and continues its journey to Montenegro.

The Galactica Super Nova yacht linked to Vagit Alekperov likewise made a speedy departure from Spain in recent weeks. It was last tracked near Montenegro as well.

In late February, a Ukrainian man who was the mechanic on the Lady Anastasia yacht, linked to the head of a Russian state arms exporter, even made an unsuccessful attempt to sink it before he headed to fight in his homeland.