Russian businessman Oleksiy Inkin is suing Croatia for 35 million euros due to the seizure of the Royal Romance yacht. This luxury yacht, valued at approximately 130 million euros, once belonged to the family of Viktor Medvedchuk. However, she has been on bail in the Croatian port of Trogir for two years.
When on March 16, 2022, the Lychakivskyi District Court of the city of Lviv decided to seize Medvedchuk's property, the yacht Royal Romance was in the port of Rijeka in Croatia. At the request of the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, in May 2022, the Croatian authorities transferred it to the port of Trogir and blocked it. For almost two years, the Croatian courts considered the issue of confiscation of the yacht and its transfer to Ukraine. According to the Croatian media, the judges of the Split District Court have repeatedly appealed to Ukraine to provide the necessary information for making decisions in this case.
The process unfolded on November 14, 2023, when the Ukrainian government improved the procedure for the sale of seized assets, including movable property located abroad. Corresponding changes were made to Government Resolutions No. 719 and No. 558. According to the new rules, the sale of seized property will now be conducted exclusively on the Prozorro electronic platform and in accordance with European law.
In January 2024, the Split District Court decided to confiscate the yacht and hand it over to the Ukrainian Agency for the Management of Assets Obtained Through Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA). And on February 16, 2024, the government of Ukraine approved the sale of the 92-meter Royal Romance by protocol decision. Thus, the fate of the yacht was decided.
Medvedchuk, it seems, is going to fight for this pearl until the last. At the beginning of this process, in March 2021, the Fregata Marine company (the ultimate beneficiary of which is Medvedchuk's wife, Oksana Marchenko) sold the Royal Romance yacht to the Lanelia Holdings company.
This change of ownership occurred after the NSDC imposed sanctions on the property of Viktor and Oksana Medvedchuk on February 19, 2021. At that time, the Secretary of the NSDC Oleksiy Danilov noted that the sanctions apply to all property assets of the family. However, this did not stop Medvedchuk from changing the owner of the yacht to Oleksiy Inkin. Formal ownership of the yacht, as well as the absence of international sanctions, allowed the Russian Inkin to challenge the legality of the arrest and confiscation.
The yacht was arrested as part of criminal proceedings against Medvedchuk on charges of treason and aiding a terrorist organization. Inkin's lawyers claim that this is related to the case of the purchase of coal from ORDLO in 2015. As a result of the occupation of Donbas, Ukrainian thermal power plants experienced a shortage of anthracite. Energy-generating companies were forced to purchase it on the world market, in particular in South Africa. According to the SBU, the supply of coal from the temporarily occupied territories to state enterprises of Ukraine was organized through Medvedchuk's mediation.
The defenders of Oleksiy Inkin from the Gajski, Grlić, Prka and partners law firm claim that there is no evidence that would confirm the possibility of confiscating the yacht and handing it over to Ukraine. According to them, the yacht was arrested in Croatia by the decision of the Split District Court to ensure the recovery of Medvedchuk's illegally obtained profits from dubious contracts for the purchase of coal for Ukraine. The price of this issue is estimated at approximately three billion hryvnias or about 165 million euros. However, according to Inkin's lawyers, quoted by Croatian media, there is no clear evidence that he actually had this illegal profit. The defenders also draw attention to the fact that the Ukrainian prosecutor's office did not bring any charges against Medvedchuk for receiving property benefits, neither against him nor against other persons who could be involved in these dubious actions.
Inkin's lawyers emphasize that their client is not even suspected of having bought the yacht with ill-gotten gains and later resold it to someone else to hide the illegal income. According to the Russian businessman, the absence of any illegal earnings is a key argument against blocking this precious yacht.
In his appeal, Inkin emphasizes that the yacht was built from 2011 to 2015, while the case investigated by the SBU concerns events that took place in 2015. Therefore, the lawyers come to the conclusion that the yacht cannot be connected with the dubious contracts, according to which the Ukrainian authorities are investigating Medvedchuk's case.
In addition, Inkin believes that the sanctions imposed on him by the Ukrainian authorities do not apply to the countries of the European Union. His company, Fregata Marine, as well as Inkin's company, Lanelia Holdings, which purchased the yacht, are based in the Marshall Islands and are not subject to these sanctions.
These facts are the main arguments in the appeal against the arrest and confiscation of the yacht, which will now be considered by the extrajudicial panel of the District Court in Split.
In his lawsuit, Inkin is also seeking compensation for damages he suffered as a result of Croatian authorities blocking the yacht from spring 2022. The amount of these damages, according to Inkin's calculations, consists of the costs of maintenance and mooring of the yacht for two years, as well as the lost profit from its use in the form of leasing. Inkin's lawyers also reported that if the appeals court does not approve their application, and the yacht is still handed over to Ukraine, they will demand compensation in the full amount of its value - 130 million euros.
For Ukraine, this case with Medvedchuk's yacht is of great importance. If Kyiv manages to successfully implement the confiscation and sale of this vessel, it will open the way for many similar operations with the blocked property of Putin and his Ukrainian and Russian accomplices. And this is a lot of money. In total, according to the media, sanctions are currently imposed on at least 13 yachts of Russian oligarchs worth at least 3.5 billion dollars.
