Crimea set for $20 million windfall from sale of Ukrainian oligarchs’ property
Crimea will receive almost 2 billion rubles ($23.8 million) from the sale of property that was nationalized after the region split from Ukraine and reunified with Russia, according to the head of the Crimean Parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov.
Speaking at a session of the republic’s State Council, Konstantinov said that the money is expected to be transferred by the end of the year.
“These are very serious sums for the budget,” the official added.
Konstantinov stressed that since November 2022, the region has nationalized the property of about 100 legal entities and individuals that have committed unfriendly actions against Russia.
According to the official, almost 70% of seized real estate assets have become property of the Crimean government. He added that some of the properties have been temporarily leased out to boost the republic’s budget.
“The budget has already received over 34 million rubles ($400,000) from the lease of the Skyplaza shopping center and the Novacenter hypermarkets,” the official stated.
The region’s governor, Sergey Aksyonov, announced in May that property in Crimea owned by former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk would be sold at auction.
Poroshenko, who was elected president following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev and served until 2019, is one of the wealthiest people in Ukraine. In 2015 – a year after Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia – the local authorities nationalized the Sevastopol Shipyard, which was part of Poroshenko’s ship-building enterprise.
According to the Crimean authorities, Yatsenyuk, who worked in Poroshenko’s cabinet, owned a cinema in the seaside resort of Yalta. They also confirmed that a luxury apartment belonging to the family of current Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky would be auctioned off. Both properties were nationalized last year.
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