Swimming pool and elevators: Medvedchuk’s yacht was shown from the inside for the first time (video)
19.03.2024 - 16:41
The yacht of the oligarch and “Putin’s best friend” Viktor Medvedchuk Royal Romance was shown from the inside for the first time. She is now moored in Croatia.
Journalists first got on Medvedchuk’s yacht “Royal Romance”, which was arrested in the spring of 2022, TSN reports.
In February of this year, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the sale of the seized yacht. The Agency for Search and Asset Management (ARMA) was entrusted with the implementation.
The vessel is currently docked in Trogor, Croatia. It is located at the ship repair yard, so you can see the yacht only if you go out to sea.
Medvedchuk bought the yacht 92 m long and 14 m wide in 2015. At the same time, she was spotted on the French Riviera.
In 2020, Medvedchuk included in his declaration for 2019 an offshore company called Fregata Marine Ltd, to which the yacht was registered. This is how it became known about the vessel’s connection with the oligarch. The ultimate beneficiary of the firm at that time was Medvedchuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko. Further, to save from sanctions, the vessel will be re-registered to the offshore company “Lanelia Holdings LTD” from the Marshall Islands.
In the spring of 2022, the yacht was found by ARMA, which made a large number of requests to international organizations, such as Star, Carin, Europol, Interpol. Later, the property was seized by the Lychakiv District Court of the city of Lviv. Croatia recognized the decision, and later the asset in Ukraine was transferred to ARMA for implementation.
All this time, the yacht had no right to leave the territory of Croatia.
Medvedchuk’s lawyers did not want to let Ukrainian representatives on the yacht. The negotiations were also conducted by representatives of ARMA and the Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as the Croatian judge in this case, representatives of the ship repair yard, local police and journalists.
In the end, the Ukrainian delegation and the film crew were allowed on the ship. The yacht accommodates 14 guests and 22 crew members. Since the arrest of the vessel, a Croatian team is still on it, which continues to receive salaries from Medvedchuk.
The delegations were shown the decks of the yacht, the staff section and the technical compartment of the yacht. There, everything was carefully examined and recorded by an expert from Turkey.
The yacht has elevators, cabins for guests. In the decoration, mahogany species are used, on the wall is a reproduction of the work of the French artist Paul Gauguin. Henryk Sienkiewicz and Goethe are on the bookshelves. The bathroom is decorated with shells.
The exclusive feature of this yacht is the swimming pool on the deck. This is the largest pool ever built on a ship by the company that created this yacht.
At the end of January 2024, the District Court of the city of Split (Croatia) decided to transfer the Royal Romance yacht to Ukraine. It is known that the ship requires annual costs of $15-20 million.
Previously, USM reported that in order to realize the arrested yacht of Viktor Medvedchuk, who is suspected of treason, it was necessary to make changes to the legislation.
