Valeria Di Corrado March 25, 2022
In front of the Italian government, there are no longer only oligarchs on the European Union’s sanctions list. Now it is enough to be rich and have Russian or Belarusian citizenship even if it is associated with dual citizenship of an EU Member State to be placed on the list of “watchful” people. The Financial Security Committee of the Ministry of Economy commissioned the UIF (financial intelligence unit at the Bank of Italy) to record all bank deposits above 100,000. euro on behalf of natural and legal persons with Russian or Belarusian citizenship. So we are talking about ordinary people, entrepreneurs, traders or professionals who have lived in our country for maybe years because they are doing their job because they are married to an Italian or an Italian, or they are children of Russian immigrants who have dual citizenship. Credit institutions have until 27 May to complete this mapping and submit a report to the MEF Financial Security Committee.
The initiative will undoubtedly give rise to discussion as it is in the nature of a prohibition list; even if the fact of having over 100,000 on the Italian current account the euro does not entail its freezing, as is expected of the 893 Russians and Belarusians who have been blacklisted because they have been recognized as political or economic supporters of Vladimir Putin.
On the sanctions front, Italian banks are to deposit with the UIF a list of current accounts held in the name of the Putins or at least their affiliated companies with the UIF by the beginning of April. European legislation is based on an implementing regulation signed by French Foreign Minister JeanYves Le Drian, which implements EU regulation no. 269/2014 (drawn up after the Russian occupation of Crimea) and which provides for “restrictive measures relating to activities affecting or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”.
At the moment, Italy is one of the most active countries in Europe in terms of the application of sanctions: so far it has frozen 4 villas, 3 yachts and 6 companies to 7 different oligarchs, for a total amount of EUR 743 million. Meanwhile, in France, the assets of 856 million euros of Russian oligarchs have been frozen, said Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, specifying that a task force was established to identify sanctioned Russian millionaires and their possessions. present on French territory. The frozen assets include 150 million euros in current accounts, 539 million real estate assets representing around thirty properties or apartments, and two yachts worth 150 million. One of the two is the “True Love” yacht, moored in La Ciotat (near Marseille), attributed to Igor Sechin, president of the Russian oil giant Rosneft.
Spain has so far frozen 3 yachts for as many Russian oligarchs: one in Mallorca, “Lady Anastasia”, valued at 7 million; one in Tarragona, the $ 550 million “Crescent”, which would belong to Sechin; and one in Barcelona, ”Valerie”, worth 130 million. On the other hand, Germany only froze the yacht Dilbar, worth $ 537 million, held at a Hamburg shipyard and owned by Putin’s friend Alisher Usmanov, Everton’s shareholder and sponsor in the Premier League. However, most Russianowned companies 362 are concentrated in Germany, according to a study by Sole24Ore. According to the same study, there are 181 in Austria, 153 in Great Britain and 146 in Cyprus; Countries chosen by multimillionaires for their favorable tax systems. However, when looking at the value of these companies’ assets, Cyprus ranks first with $ 106 billion. From the half of the island, which is part of the European Union, no information has yet emerged about any sanctions against the Russians.
