A £458m superyacht owned by the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, has been detained by Spanish authorities.
Spain’s Transport Ministry said the 135-metre-long Crescent vessel was docked in the port of Tarragona, Catalonia, when officials took action.
According to the monitoring site Marine Traffic, the boat arrived in Spain from Italy in November last year and is registered in the Cayman Islands.
Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was one of many Russian billionaires sanctioned by the European Union on 28 February – including having all his assets in the bloc frozen.
The UK followed suit on 10 March, hitting the oil tycoon with asset freezes and travel bans over his supposed ties to the Kremlin. It was the same day the UK government sanctioned Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.
Sechin is considered one of the most influential oligarchs, not only because Rosneft is one of the world’s largest crude oil producers, but because he reportedly works in collaboration with the Russian state and is in regular contact with Putin.
Spain’s decision is the latest in a series of seizures designed to punish those thought to be affiliated with the Russian leader, after he launched his deadly invasion of Ukraine last month.
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