Yacht linked to Putin ally and oil boss Igor Sechin seized by French authorities

Rosneft CEO among 26 prominent people sanctioned by EU for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

French authorities have seized a yacht they linked to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin, who has ties to the Kremlin, in a Mediterranean port.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday the vessel was being held in La Ciotat under the terms of the European Union’s massive sanctions package against Russia for starting a war against Ukraine.

“Thanks to the French customs officers who are enforcing the European Union’s sanctions against those close to the Russian government,” Mr Le Maire said in a tweet.

A finance ministry press release said the yacht was owned by an entity of which Mr Sechin had been identified as the main shareholder.

Mr Sechin was among 26 prominent people sanctioned by the EU for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the decision published on Monday on the EU’s official journal.

The listings include oligarchs and businessmen active in the oil, banking and finance sectors, as well as government members, high-level military people, and “propagandists who contributed to spread anti-Ukrainian propaganda”, the EU said in a statement.

Western leaders say sanctioning Russia’s richest men puts pressure on Vladimir Putin, though many oligarchs say the West is naive if it thinks he will listen to the views of businessmen, especially on matters of national security.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin, accompanied by chief executive of Rosneft Igor Sechin, in 2017 (REUTERS)

Mr Sechin worked with Mr Putin in St Petersburg in the 1990s and served as Russia’s deputy prime minister within Mr Putin’s cabinet from 2008 before leaving to head Rosneft in 2012. The US Treasury described Mr Sechin as “reportedly a close ally of Putin”. His son is also said to hold a high-ranking position in Rosneft.

Mr Sechin has held a number of public engagements with Mr Putin in recent years, including last summer when both men toured a cathedral in Karelia together. They also met for talks in February 2021 at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow.

Vladimir Putin meets with Igor Sechin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on 15 February 2021 (via REUTERS)

In an interview with The Independent in 2015, Mr Sechin said sanctions imposed at the time against Russia for illegally annexing Crimea were “illegitimate”.

Russia’s state-oil company Rosneft was in the headlines at the weekend when BP announced it was ditching its 19.75 per cent stake after Mr Putin’s decision to invade.

The move by the UK-listed company to abandon its holding will result in costs of up to $25bn (£19bn).

Separately, French authorities on Thursday also seized another cargo vessel in the port of Loiret, Brittany, which was also linked to Russian interests.

A day before French officials moved on the yacht in La Ciotat, German authorities seized a boat belonging to billionaire Alisher Usmanov at a shipyard in Hungary.

The craft, said to be a 512-foot boat called the Dilbar, is worth a reported $600m and features a 25-metre swimming pool, two helipads, an on-ship garden, and requires a crew of 80 people to keep it running.

Earlier this week, the EU announced it was freezing Mr Usmanov’s assets, calling him a “pro-Kremlin oligarch with particularly close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin”, a man who is “considered to be one of Russia’s businessmen-officials, who were entrusted with servicing financial flows, but their positions depend on the will of the president”.

Premier League football team Everton has also dropped sponsorship deals with the oligarch, who previously owned part of Arsenal.