The Italian finance minister has adopted a decree that will impede a mega-yacht from sailing away from a Tuscan port, after an investigation indicated that the luxury vessel Scheherazade has links to “prominent elements of the Russian government.'’
The finance ministry also said in a statement Friday evening that the probe, carried out by Italy’s financial police corps, found “significant economic business links of the beneficial owner” of the Scheherazade as well to other subjects included in a list issued in 2014 as part of European Union measures prompted by Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
There have been fears that the 459-foot-long yacht, which has been in dry dock in the port of Marina di Carrara, was preparing to sail out of Italian waters soon.
Based on the Italian investigation, Minister Daniele Franco adopted a “freezing decree'‘ for the yacht, which flies the flag of the Cayman Islands and which had ”long been under the attention of the authorities,’' the statement said.
A few weeks after Russia’s war against Ukraine began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a speech to Italian lawmakers, urged Italy to continue freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs and officials.
The Italian ministry statement didn’t identify the boat’s owner nor specify who are the “prominent” elements of the Russian government, but said the “actual owner” of the Scheherazade should be included in the 2014 EU sanctions list.
