Yzabelle Bostyn
MADRID’s High Court of Justice has refused to return one of three yachts seized in Mallorca due to their links to Russian oligarchs.
The Sasha I was blocked in Palma’s Club de Mar in May 2022 by the Merchant Navy.
It’s believed owner is Vladizlav Reznik, a businessman and chairman of the bail commission of the Russian Parliament.
Reznik has made the list of those sanctioned for his links to Putin by both the European Union and the United States.
He was tried and acquitted by the Audiencia Nacional for his possible links to a money laundering scheme carried out by Mallorca’s Russian mafia.
In that same trial, the main suspect Gennadios Petrov escaped judgement after fleeing to Russia following his arrest.
Formally, the Sasha I belongs to Centros Comerciales Antei S.L. who filed an appeal against the boat seizure, claiming €480,000 in damages.
It is believed the boat actually belongs to Reznik’s former wife, Diana Gindin, a Russian-American national.
After the couple divorced in 2015, she assumed ownership of all the couple’s assets outside Russia, including another boat and a property in Mallorca.
However, the appeal argued that these assets are no longer connected to Reznik and there is no sanction against Gindin, who was also tried and acquitted in the Petrov plot.
Spanish prosecutors consider the yacht is still tied to the businessman through the dense web of companies through which he manages his wealth.
It was the third vessel detained in Palma as a result of sanctions against Russian oligarchs due to the conflict in Ukraine.
The other vessels include The Tango, which is the largest and belongs to Viktor Vekselberg.
It was seized in a joint operation carried out by the Guardia Civil and the FBI.
The final boat, The Lady Anastasia, was owned by arms manufacturer Alexander Mijeev, and is being held in Port Adriano.
