World enews: Mega yacht ‘owned by oligarch and Putin ally Igor Sechin’ seized by Spanish authorities

A mega yacht thought to be owned by an already-sanctioned Russian oligarch was detained by Spanish authorities on Wednesday, it has been reported.

The £458m vessel, called Crescent, belongs to Igor Sechin, who heads up Russia’s oil giant Rosneft, according to Reuters. At 135 metres long, it is one of the world’s biggest and most luxurious of its kind in the world.

It was docked in the port of Tarragona, Catalonia, when officials took action, Spain’s Transport Ministry is quoted as saying. According to the monitoring site Marine Traffic, the boat arrived in Spain from Italy in November last year and is registered in the Cayman Islands.

Mr Sechin, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, was one of many Russian billionaires sanctioned by the European Union on 28 February – including having all his assets in the bloc frozen.

The UK followed suit on 10 March, hitting the oil tycoon with asset freezes and travel bans over his supposed ties to the Kremlin. It was the same day the UK government sanctioned Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, imposing the same restrictions on him as they did Mr Sechin, throwing his west London-based Premier League club into disarray.

Spain’s decision is the latest in a series of seizures designed to punish those thought to be affiliated with Putin, after the Russian leader launched his invasion of Ukraine last month.

Just five days ago, a £530m yacht owned by Andrey Melnichenko, another oligarch, was seized by Italian authorities. The vessel, called “SY A”, was in storage at the northeastern port of Trieste, a statement from Italy’s financial police said.

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