Italian authorities are looking for the head of “Uralkali” by Dmitry Mazepin after the disappearance of his two yachts confiscated as part of the sanctions of the European Union.
According to ANSA, the prosecutor’s office is studying the notes in the Tuscan resort city of Forte-de-Marmy, whose financial resident is a businessman. The city hall has already issued a public notification of fines against Mazepin due to the disappearance of yachts.
Two yachts – both called Aldabra, but with the sea flags of two different countries – disappeared from the Sardinian port of Olbia in the summer of 2022. The investigation conducted by the financial police of Olbia showed that the first vessel costing from 700,000 to 1 million euros left Olbia in June and arrived in a small port of Bisert in Tunisia. The second yacht a few weeks later left Olbia and first went to Savona, a port in the Northern Italian region of Liguria, then to Turkey. The current location of the yachts and their owner is unknown.
For the crossing of yachts to the “friendly” countries, Mazepin used the services of a foreign company, which, in turn, hired the Sardian captain. The intermediary and captain are fined up to 500,000 euros. Mazepin faces the same punishment. The villa in Sardinia, owned by Mazepin, is also among the frozen Russian assets.
The Italian police believes that now Mazepine is in Russia. This is the first case in Italy, when a Russian with assets frozen in the country managed to avoid EU sanctions.
Dmitry Mazepin and his son Nikita – the former Formula 1 rider – were included in the EU sanctions lists on March 9, 2022 as “providing support from the Government of the Russian Federation or providing him with a significant source of income.”