Sale of Medvedchuk’s yacht: ARMA reports progress, journalists say it is still financed by the owner

ARMA claims to have completed all steps to sell the seized yacht “Royal Romance”. Journalists indicate that it can still be maintained with funds associated with “Putin’s best man.”

Medvedchuk’s yacht has once again come under the spotlight, this time due to the issue of financing the seized asset, as well as its alleged nationalization.

As Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach emphasized in his investigation, the maintenance of the Royal Romance may be financed by Viktor Medvedchuk or persons associated with him. Referring to the response of the Croatian Foreign Ministry, Tkach reported that the sanctions regime allows the owner of the frozen property to pay port and other fees.

According to the journalist, the maintenance of a “Royal Romance” yacht can cost millions of euros per year. Despite the arrest and many years of statements about the sale, the vessel worth about 130 million euros has been in Croatia since 2022, while similar assets have already been sold in many countries.

In turn, the former head of ARMA Olena Duma also reacted to the journalist’s video. According to her, the agency’s main goal all this time was to send funds from the sale of Medvedchuk’s yacht to Ukraine and not burden the state budget with any financial obligations.

“The yacht was not allowed to be stolen. Medvedchuk’s yacht was saved for Ukraine. The yacht was transferred to a naval state port. The state of Ukraine does not bear any costs. And the yacht will be sold, ARMA is ready for this,” Olena Duma emphasized.

In turn, the National Agency for Tracing and Asset Management (ARMA) officially announced that since receiving the arrested superyacht Royal Romance into management — an asset associated with the suspect in treason Viktor Medvedchuk — they have taken a full range of measures for its sale.

The Agency added that it did not carry out technical maintenance or storage of the Royal Romance yacht, and also noted that no state budget funds were spent on the maintenance of the yacht, since Ukraine does not provide for financing the maintenance of seized assets abroad.

The appeal also states that the investigation repeatedly indicated the alleged “nationalization” of the Royal Romance yacht.

“The National Agency is not aware of such facts. As of today, it is only known about the seizure of assets imposed within the framework of criminal proceedings. ARMA is not a body authorized to make decisions on the nationalization of property,” the report says.

We will remind, after the start of the full-scale invasion, a number of EU countries, the USA and the UK confiscated and sold at auctions yachts belonging to sanctioned Russian businessmen.

For example, in 2023, Spain transferred to the United States the 72-meter yacht Tango, associated with Viktor Vekselberg, which was later sold. In France and Italy, several large vessels were sold or transferred to management to offset the costs of their maintenance.

Against this background, the delay in the sale of the Royal Romance looks atypical, and the question of who actually controls the yacht and whether the proceeds will go to the state budget of Ukraine remains open.

Read also One hundred sea drones and 87 satellites of Pritula: how much are confiscated Russian yachts worth