France To Seize Russian Oligarchs’ Property, Yachts, Cars

Emmanuel Macron’s government is identifying all the French assets of Russian oligarchs subject to EU sanctions, including property and luxury yachts and cars, with a view to seizing them in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We will also identify all the Russian individuals with assets in France who could be added to the European sanctions list because of their ties to the Russian government,” France’s finance minister said on Monday after an inner cabinet meeting on defence and security. “We will give ourselves legal means to seize all these assets.”

Bruno Le Maire added that ministers would meet representatives of French business throughout the week “to precisely identify the impact of this crisis on trade and on the supply of components and critical metals”.

Finance ministers from the G7 group of industrialised democracies will meet on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of sanctions against Russia, including the suspension of some Russian banks from the Swift payments messaging system, he said.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, foreign minister, confirmed that arms supplies from the EU to help Ukraine defend itself would be co-ordinated from a hub in neighbouring Poland.