Italy Arrests Villa of Russian Oligarch of Belarusian Origin

• 12.04.2022, 9:46

The seized property is worth about €105 million.

Italian authorities have arrested the villa Rocky Ram in Sardinia, associated with the 23-year-old Russian Formula 1 racer Nikita Mazepin and his father, billionaire Dmitry Mazepin, CEO of Uralchim.

This was reported by Reuters, citing police sources.

The total value of the confiscated property is about 105 million euros. The villa is located in the north of Sardinia island.

Mazepin, fired in March from the US-owned Haas Formula One team, was put on an EU sanctions list along with his father Dmitry, who is considered a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

Dmitry Mazepin, 51 years old, a native of Minsk, graduated from the Minsk Suvorov Military School in 1985. Later, he studied to be a military interpreter. In 1986-1988, he served in Afghanistan as an interpreter. After graduating from the Economics Faculty at MGIMO in 1992, he worked in finance in Russia and Belarus, in particular, in Belarusbank in a low-level position of deputy CEO. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Uralchem from 2007 and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Uralkali from 2014.

In recent weeks, Italian police have seized villas and yachts worth more than €900 million from wealthy Russians who have been placed on EU sanctions lists since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began.

The most valuable asset seized so far is billionaire Andrey Melnichenko's superyacht, worth around €530 million, which was seized in the port of Trieste.

On 3 April, Italian police confiscated a yacht worth 3m euros, which officials say belongs to a Russian man on sanctions lists.