France seizes luxury properties belonging to Vladimir Putin and his associates

The French justice system has ordered the seizure of luxurious goods belonging to the family and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin in France. The prestigious newspaper The World reported that two new assets have been seized, confirmed by the Paris prosecutor’s office. One of the seized properties is Villa Souzanna in Anglet, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, which was targeted with anti-Putin graffiti two days after the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

While officially registered under a real estate company controlled by Artur Ocheretny, the villa is believed to be owned by Lioudmila Putina, Putin’s ex-wife. The property, an Art Deco style residence near the beach of Las Dunes, was acquired by Ocheretny in 2013 for millions of euros. The seizure of the property is part of an investigation into money laundering, with the origin of the funds used to purchase and renovate the villa being under scrutiny.

Another property, an apartment in Paris owned by Ekaterina Solotsinskaya, ex-wife of Putin’s spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, was also seized in a separate investigation for money laundering. The French Ministry of Economy has frozen a total of 24 billion euros worth of Russian assets in response to the war in Ukraine.

The European Parliament has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for frozen Russian assets to be transferred to a fund to rebuild Ukraine and compensate victims of Russia’s aggression. The resolution aims to hold the Russian government accountable for the damages caused by its invasion of Ukraine and calls for the establishment of an International Compensation Mechanism to distribute compensation to affected individuals and entities. The mechanism would be overseen by the Council of Europe and operate in accordance with international standards.

The resolution emphasizes the need for collective countermeasures against Russia for its violations of international obligations and urges member states to cooperate in transferring assets to the compensation fund. This initiative is part of the international effort to address the consequences of Russia’s aggression and support the rebuilding of Ukraine.