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Former Polish ambassador to Russia: Not gas and not coal are the key sources of dollars for Putin
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French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire reported in an interview with RTL radio that the government froze EUR 150 million in bank accounts, around 30 real estate with a total value of EUR 539 million, and two yachts worth approximately EUR 150 million. The minister explained that the oligarchs are prohibited from using, selling or renting frozen property.
Le Maire stressed that the oligarchs’ estates were not definitively seized by the authorities because “for this it is necessary to prove that the owner had committed a crime”. “There is no crime, no confiscation,” he admitted. However, he indicated that confiscation would be possible in the case of Russians who tried to avoid sanctions. Politician he gave the example of a Russian yacht that attempted to sail from the port of La Ciotat in the south of France in early March, which was detained by French authorities.
The war in Ukraine. The sanctions hit the Russian oligarchs
Russia and its oligarchs linked to Putin getting they feel more sanctionswhich so far has announced and imposed, inter alia, European Union, USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and Monaco. Countries impose restrictions on, inter alia, entry ban and asset freezing or confiscation. It has to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However – although the EU sanctions already cover a total of 877 people and 62 entities in Russia and Belarus – Dr. Michał Kaczmarski from the Warsaw School of Economics in an interview with TOK FM he explained that further reports on the freezing of the oligarchs’ assets do not have to be means the actual seizure of their property. – The freeze is not a forfeit. They (the oligarchs) do not lose their property forever, but only until the end of the conflict or war, he said.
The authorities that deal with the freezing of funds or assets must also demonstrate the relationship between a given item – e.g. a ship, plane, house, bank account – and the natural person, legal person or organizational unit indicated in the list. But here too, those who want to hide their property use a whole range of different techniques to prevent their name from appearing anywhere. This is the biggest challenge
he said.
One and a half thousand containers to Russia were blocked in Belgian ports on Sunday due to EU sanctions. It is necessary to inspect whether they can be forwarded. The decision to blockade was made by the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge. The authorities inform that the containers will be transhipped and forwarded to Russia if companies have all the necessary documents confirming that the goods are not covered by EU sanctions. If there is no such certainty, then inspectors will carefully check each container. Since the sanctions came into force, more than 10,000 containers have been inspected so far.
Due to EU sanctions, the Belgian government also froze assets worth EUR 10 billion belonging to Russian oligarchs and politicians, as well as companies. According to reports from the Belgian press, after the annexation of Crimea, this amount was only EUR 25 million.
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