Photo: EFE/ATIENZA
The Supreme Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has upheld the legality of the seizure of a yacht owned by Vladislav Reznik, one of the wealthiest MPs in Russia’s lower legislative chamber — the State Duma. The vessel was confiscated in May 2022 in the port of Mallorca, according to a report by el Diario. In its Dec. 19 ruling, the court authorized the “final immobilization” of the luxury yacht Sasha I, which is valued at over €2.5 million.
Reznik was added to the EU sanctions list on Feb. 23, 2022 — one day prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As a member of the State Duma, he was among the 351 Russian lawmakers who voted to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” — two Russian-backed enclaves that had been waging war against Kyiv since 2014 — paving the way for the full-scale war.
The court dismissed an appeal from Centros Comerciales Antei, SLU, the yacht’s official owner, which claimed the vessel did not belong to Reznik but to his former wife, Diana Gindin, a Russian-American dual citizen. However, an investigation by Spain’s tax authorities revealed that since its purchase in 2005, the yacht had been transferred through a complex network of companies, including the British firm Drever Limited and a Jersey-based fund, with Reznik and his wife as the ultimate beneficiaries.
Spain’s Attorney General’s Office noted contradictions in the defense’s statements, arguing that the couple had used a complex corporate structure to conceal their ownership of various assets and evade sanctions that had been progressively introduced following Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014. The court also rejected the company's claim for €480,000 in damages, which it sought as compensation for three years of lost rental income due to the yacht’s confiscation.
Reznik, 70, has been a State Duma MP since 1999 and has played a key role in shaping the economic policies of the United Russia party — which is de facto led by Vladimir Putin and is practically synonymous with his term in power. In 2018, Reznik and several co-defendants were acquitted by Spain’s National Court in relation to “Operation Troika” — a case that investigated Russian organized criminal activities in Spain.