The new sanctions of Western countries include the freezing of yachts, planes, expensive cars and real estate of Russian billionaires, wrote Bloomberg with reference to a knowledgeable official from the United States.
Many assets are controlled through complex structures, so it can take months to find and lock them. Even the threat of a possible property freeze could worry billionaires, many of whom own not only yachts and planes in Western countries but also foreign sports teams.
On February 27, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks under sanctions from the SWIFT system and impose restrictions on the Bank of Russia to deprive it of access to financial reserves. At the same time, the countries agreed to close citizenship-by-investment programs and create a transatlantic working group that will search for and freeze the assets of individuals and entities from sanctions lists.
Western countries have vowed to engage with other states to “identify and hinder” the movement of funds obtained through criminal means and prevent them from “settling” in different jurisdictions around the world, a joint statement released on Feb. 27 said. In addition, the states did not rule out the possibility of imposing sanctions against other representatives of the Russian government and local elites.
More than 100 individuals and entities from Russia are now under US, UK and other sanctions, but their assets remain largely intact, Bloomberg wrote.
Billionaire Roman Abramovich on February 26 said that he was transferring the management of his Chelsea football club to the trustees of the team’s charitable foundation. The billionaire did not explain what the decision was about. Abramovich did not fall under British sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. However, Bloomberg wrote, citing unnamed sources, that investors interested in buying Chelsea have already begun to prepare potential offers for the purchase. Abramovich was granted Portuguese citizenship in December 2021 as a descendant of Sephardic Jews expelled from the country during the Middle Ages.
Various sanctions against Russia in response to the military operation in Ukraine and the recognition of the DPR and LPR were also introduced by the United States, the European Union and Canada. Restrictions were imposed on banks, including Promsvyazbank, VTB, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, Russian officials and parliamentarians, as well as members of their families.
