France said Thursday it had seized a superyacht owned by Russia's oil czar Igor Sechin, following through on threats to target sanctioned oligarchs close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The vessel, Amore Vero, was seized at a shipyard at La Ciotat on the French Riviera, a popular summer playground for the super-rich where many tycoons moor their vessels for pleasure or maintenance.
"French customs carried out the seizure of the yacht Amore Vero in La Ciotat as part of the implementation of sanctions by the European Union against Russia," a statement for the French finance ministry said.
The 85.6-metre vessel was owned by a company "in which Sechin is the main shareholder", the statement added.
Sechin, seen as part of Putin's tightest inner circle and a former deputy prime minister, is chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft.
Rory Jackson, business editor at the Superyacht Group, said that the boats being targeted were likely in Europe because they were undergoing maintenance.
"At this point in the year, it's the end of the Caribbean season and the Mediterranean season will start in May," he told French news agency AFP. "The yachts that are in Europe in this period, they're probably having refit work done."
He said there was evidence that Russian owners were keeping their vessels in the Caribbean or moving them to places such as the Seychelles.
Authorities in the Maldives have told French news agency AFP that the Clio superyacht belonging to sanctioned billionaire Oleg Deripaska has anchored off its capital, along with the Titan vessel owned by steel magnate Alexander Abramov.
The megayacht Solaris owned by Roman Abramovich is currently shown as located in Barcelona in Spain, according to specialist ship tracking websites, and is thought to be undergoing maintenance.
Abramovich has not been sanctioned, but announced Wednesday that he was divesting from Chelsea football club in a possibly pre-emptive move.
Putin himself has been repeatedly linked to the 80-metre superyacht Graceful, which was moved from the German port of Hamburg to the Russian enclave of Kalingrad on the Baltic Sea in early February, Marinetraffic.com data shows.
Sanctions
The European Union, the United States and Britain have all announced sanctions against Russian tycoons that are closely connected to Putin.
"Those who enable the invasion of Ukraine will pay a price for their action," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday as he announced new measures following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last Thursday.
These included sanctions against Sechin, pipeline boss Nikolay Tokarev, bankers Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven and others.
Paris has said it is drawing up a list of assets in France owned by oligarchs including yachts and luxury cars, with the southern Rivera coastline long being a magnet for the rich and famous.
