Italy’s central bank said it has frozen the assets of Russian oligarchs to the tune of 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) since Russia’s large-scale military invasion of Ukraine.
The Italian government has confiscated assets – including bank accounts, luxury villas, yachts and cars – as part of European Union sanctions against the Kremlin and Putin’s entourage, Reuters reported.
The Central Bank of Italy’s anti-money-laundering unit, said the sanctions data was updated as of the end of June 2023. Director of the unit Enzo Serata also noted that of the frozen funds about 330 million euros belong to about 80 individuals.
Before the outbreak of hostilities in February 2022, Italian beaches and ports were very popular among wealthy Russians, who bought property in such prestigious places as Lake Como, Sardinia, Tuscany and the Ligurian coast.
Some of the sanctioned oligarchs have appealed. Among them is the Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who owns assets in metallurgy and telecommunications.
