Czechia freezes assets of Russian oligarch with ties to Putin

The Czech government has blocked the bank accounts and frozen the assets of Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Radio Prague reported on July 30, citing Czech Television.

Yevtushenkov was placed on Czechia's sanctions list in June. He holds properties in the town of Karlovy Vary worth over 500 million Czech crowns ($23 million), Czech Television reported.

The Czech public broadcaster said that Yevtushenkov, boasting ties to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, is the most high-profile Russian businessperson to be targeted by Czech sanctions.

According to Forbes, Moscow-based oligarch Yevtushenkov holds a 59% stake in the Russian investment holding company Sistema, which he founded in 1993.

In 2014, the company was accused of illegally acquiring a controlling stake in the oil firm Bashneft. The shares were returned and sold to state-owned Rosneft while Yevtushenkov was arrested. The case against him was terminated in 2016.

Yevtushenkov made the 2018 "Putin list" released by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018, naming 210 prominent Russian political figures and oligarchs with close links to the Russian dictator.

Together with Czechia, he has also been sanctioned by the U.K., Australia, Ukraine, and New Zealand.

Yevtushenkov's company Kronshtadt - part of the Sistema Group - is reportedly supplying the Russian military with Orion drones. He is also a close friend of Ukraine's ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, according to EU Reporter.

NYT: Russian oligarchs enjoy luxury life in UK under sanctions exemptions

Sanctioned Russian oligarchs spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury life in the U.K. thanks to numerous sanction exemptions, the New York Times reported on July 27.

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek