HIGH SEIZE
Ex-KGB spy’s £120m superyacht once used by Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez is seized in Spain over Ukraine invasion
A FORMER KGB spy has had his £120 million superyacht seized by the Spanish Government over the invasion of Ukraine.
Sergey Chemezov’s yacht Valerie, which was used by Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez last summer for a romantic getaway, has been temporarily seized in Barcelona.
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The pair had celebrated J-Lo's 52nd birthday on the superyacht in St Tropez last July.
And now the boat has been seized after two sources said the 279-foot vessel belonged to the head of Russian state conglomerate Rostec and an ally of Vladimir Putin.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on La Sexta television: "Today we seized - the technical term is provisionally immobilised - a yacht belonging to one of the principal oligarchs.
"We are talking about a yacht that we estimate is worth $140 million."
He added that "there will be more" without elaborating further.
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According to monitoring site Marine Traffic, the yacht has been in Barcelona since February 9 and was under repair until Monday.
It will remain under detention while Spanish authorities confirm its ownership and whether they feature on any list of sanctions targets, a government source said.
The West has rolled out sanctions on Russian oligarchs since the country's invasion of Ukraine in a bid to cripple Putin's economy.
This has caused a large number of oligarchs to move their assets - including their yachts.
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Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, the owner of the world’s largest sailing yacht, had his £450million boat seized by Italian authorities at the northern port of Trieste last week.
He joined Roman Abramovich on the sanctions list after he was banned from selling Chelsea Football Club, had his assets frozen and was blocked from visiting or doing business in Britain.
His superyacht was spotted docking in Montenegro last week.
It comes as:
- China is willing to send weapons to Russia to help its invasion, the US has warned.
- Sobbing Russian soldiers apologised for killing "civilians and children" in Ukraine.
- A Russian drone was reportedly shot down in Ukraine today after claims it flew into Polish airspace.
- An anti-war activist stormed Russia's main propaganda news show with a sign saying: "They're lying to you."
- One of the world's most fearsome snipers has vowed that he "won't hesitate to squeeze the trigger".
- Brit fighter says Ukrainian forces are “like the Taliban on steroids”.
- Russia has released chilling new footage of its hypersonic nuke missile that could hit London in five minutes.
Abramovich appears to have moved both of his superyachts including Solaris, which boasts its own helipad and missile detection system, and Eclipse, worth £672m.
The Eclipse was last seen in the Caribbean sailing away from St Martin, but now appears to be heading though the Strait of Gibraltar – potentially heading towards the Solaris.
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Another Russian oligarch, Alisher Usmanov, had his 500ft long superyacht seized earlier this month.
The tycoon, who sponsored Everton FC, had his £600million luxury vessel confiscated by German authorities
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