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Date Published: 15/03/2022

ARCHIVED - Russian oligarchs store wealth unchecked across Spanish Islands

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Spain is the only country which has failed to seize the valuable property of Putin’s tycoons

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Russian oligarchs store wealth unchecked across Spanish Islands

Whether dominating by land, sea or air, Russia’s oligarchs have quietly been making their mark on the Mallorca skyline through shell companies, docking their luxury super yachts in the ports of the islands and landing their private jets in Son Sant Joan. Many fear that the intention of the tycoons is to turn Mallorca into a mini-Moscow, and the Spanish government has been heavily criticised for failing to seize the valuable toys belonging to some of Putin’s closest confidants.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Italy, Monaco and France have gone after the oligarchs with gusto, and Spain remains the only country which has refused to seize their assets.

Year round, the millionaire yachts are docked in the Western Mediterranean, but the Ministry of Transport insists that their vessels should not be confiscated. The tycoons, for their part, have now fled to the Maldives.

The wealth of the oligarchs who choose Spain as their home away from home is staggering, but perhaps the most famous of them all is Roman Abramovich: the ill-fated former-director of Chelsea football club, reportedly worth twelve billion euros, has recently suffered at the hands of NATO’s sanctions, and two of his luxury ships have been seized elsewhere in Europe.

Installed on their floating mansions, the oligarchs hardly need land possessions, but they have also penetrated Majorcan soil as part of the operation for control of the essential base in the Western Mediterranean that they monopolise. The Russian flag flies in one of the most coveted frontline plots of Cap Falcó.

While bills and the ensuing inflation for aid to Ukraine skyrocket, perplexity grows at the passivity of the Spanish government. To understand at least some of the reasoning behind the decision, a look at the indictment of the anti-corruption prosecutor's office against the Russian mafia in Mallorca is revealing, stating that “the enormous economic profit generated is channelled in Spain through legal-financial advisers, who work almost exclusively for the mafia organisation”.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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