Croatia bans the use of three Russian yachts

Croatia has joined the blockade of the properties of people linked to the Putin regime, which could contribute to the financing of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Initially, the blockade is for three yachts located in Betina marina, ACI marina Skradin and in the port of Rijeka “because of reasonable suspicion of connection of yacht owners with persons on the sanctions list, temporary detention orders were issued “, confirmed for Radio Free Europe, Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure.

Names of the two owners are not known, but the owner of the third, the $ 200 million yacht Royal Romance, is Ukrainian lawyer and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk, a person close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is anchored in the port of Rijeka.

Yacht captain Bubica Saric told Croatian media that Medvedchuk was no longer the owner after being sold to a third party last spring, but specialized portal Superyacht claims it is still owned by him.

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, which includes the implementing body for the preparation and implementation of the freeze – the Working Group for the Implementation and Monitoring of the Implementation of International Restrictive Measures – did not respond to RFE’s request for details and dynamics of further procedures.

What is the goal of the measures?

Minister of Finance Zdravko Maric announced in a statement to reporters on March 17 that the goal of the measures is to enable companies that employ Croatian workers to pay taxes in Croatia and operate under Croatian law – regardless of their origin.

“Our idea, which we have been working on all these days, and this work has come to an end, is to clearly separate the issue of ownership from the functioning of the company, and this act will specify all this. Therefore, any disposition, alienation of business shares of a natural person on the list, ie related natural and legal persons, as well as any disposition of real estate-type property, ie any transfer of funds, will be prohibited, “Maric described.

Both goals have been achieved – sanctions and preservation of the company, concludes Maric.

“Sanctions as such are being implemented, and on the other hand, we must all give such companies space to do what they know best,” the finance minister concluded.

According to media reports, there are currently seven companies owned by the European list, but six of them have a total of ten employees, so this measure is mainly aimed at the company “Djuro Djakovic – Power Plants (TEP)” from Slavonski Brod, an independent part of the former industrial giant Slavonski Brod, owned by Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, one of the people on the European list against whom sanctions are applied.

The company has 872 employees, the entire production goes to the European Union and they are the first in terms of employee income in the Brod-Posavina region, according to the union there.

Retired professor at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb and president of the Croatian Association of Economists, Ljubo Jurcic, told Radio Free Europe that he knew very little about the process of freezing assets in Croatia owned by the Putin regime.

“Legal entities in Croatia are Croatian legal entities that may be owned by a foreigner, in this case a Russian. These Croatian legal entities employ Croatian workers, have Croatian suppliers and subcontractors, but also others.

I think that sanctions should be interpreted in such a way that – regardless of which legal entity it owns – business relations with Russia should be terminated, ie they should not cooperate or support the Russian war machine.

“If the company continues to operate and make a profit, I would further stop the company from making a profit, so that the revenue stays in Croatia and in no way can they support and finance the Russian war machine,” Jurcic said.

What about the real estate of Russian oligarchs?

The issue of Russian oligarchs’ real estate in Croatia, mainly luxury villas on the Kvarner and Dubrovnik coasts, has also been raised, but authorities have yet to say anything about it.

The Russians also owned a hotel chain on Losinj, but it seems that they sold it or left it to Croatian citizens, because the Working Group says that no company from Kvarner will be under these sanctions.

According to the Working Group, between 70 and 80 Russians from the European census own property in Croatia.