Expropriation in Crimea
Russia auctions off Zelensky’s apartment in Yalta
October 31, 2023, 3:04 a.m
Ten years ago, Volodymyr Zelensky’s family bought a three-room apartment in the resort town of Yalta in Crimea. Now the Russian occupation authorities are putting the apartment under the hammer. In the end, only two bidders take part in the auction.
According to a media report, Russian authorities have auctioned off the apartment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s family on the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in violation of international law. The property was sold at auction for 44.3 million rubles, the equivalent of around 440,000 euros, reported the Russian state news agency Tass. The bid is around 200,000 euros above the starting price. There were only two bidders in total.
The approximately 120 square meter apartment in the luxury health resort of Yalta was nationalized by the Russian authorities in 2023. Officially, the apartment belonged to Olena Selenska, Zelensky’s wife. According to Tass, it is a three-room apartment with a view of the Black Sea and the Livadia Palace, the summer residence of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II.
Selenska bought the property in Crimea in 2013 – around a year before Russia militarily occupied the Black Sea peninsula. At that time, Zelenskyj still earned his money as an actor and cabaret artist. The expropriation this year was made possible by a change in the law and a unanimous decision by the Crimean parliament installed by Russia. According to media reports, part of the income could flow into the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
The buyer, Moscow resident Olga Lipovetskaya, was unimpressed by the history of the apartment and its previous owner. She told the Mash news portal that she only bought the apartment because of the good location and the climate. Ukrainian President Zelensky has announced several times in the past that he also wants to liberate Crimea from the Russian occupiers as part of a counteroffensive.