Underwater assets. The 40-metre, $50 million superyacht that sank off the coast of Southern Italy last Saturday was (reportedly) the property of a Russian oligarch.
- Reports emerged on Thursday linking “My Saga” (actual name: “Life Saga”), which flew the Cayman Island flag, to Gennady Ayvazyan, the founder of Kuntrade and one of the world’s largest coal traders.
- The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Catanzaro opened an investigation into the incident, which involved the deployment of Italy’s Coast Guard in successfully rescuing all nine crew members.
⚡️A $50 million yacht allegedly owned by Russian oligarch Gennady Ayvazyan sank off the coast of #Italy
The crew of the “My Saga” yacht reported water on board and then evacuated. They wanted to tow the ship to the port, but the weather conditions worsened and the yacht sank. pic.twitter.com/gym7rh2C3K
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 24, 2022
Italy’s yacht crackdown. The Italian financial authorities have been on the hunt for concealed Russian assets since shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As Foreign Policy’s Elizabeth Braw recently wrote, the Guardia di Finanza is “leading the world in seizing oligarchs’ assets.”
- At least three megayachts have been silently seized so far, along with several villas across the entire country.
- Which is why the Russian kleptocrats who have so far succeeded in keeping their assets concealed are being ever more cautious.
- Rome has also been stripping Russian officials of State honours.
