The seizures come after sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Director of the Bank of Italy’s Financial Information Unit (UIF) Enzo Serata said in his annual report on Tuesday.

Serata added that, by the end of June, 170 “financial relationships” in the name of 80 individuals worth over 330 million euros had been frozen.

The impounded assets include a 52-metre yacht belonging to Russian energy and infrastructure oligarch Gennady Timchenko and the villa near Lucca of businessman and politician Oleg Savchenko.

ANSA