The hunt for Russian real estate continues. To date, 64 properties (including annexes and outbuildings) have been frozen by Bercy, according to a list published on Tuesday by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. In total, these residences, acquired for the most part ten years ago, weigh some 700 million euros. Or nearly 11 million euros on average. Knowing that their real estate prices have soared since, they are now worth much more. “The billion euro mark has certainly been exceeded“, assures a specialist in luxury real estate.
In total, it is more than 24 billion euros of Russian assets that France has already frozen, to date, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, contacted by Le Figaro. Here is the detail: 22.8 billion in “fixed” assets of the Central Bank of Russia, 709 million in real estate (acquisition value), 205 million euros in cargo ships, yachts, helicopters, 195 million euros bank accounts and 23.5 million euros worth of works of art.
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It is in Paris that we find the most frozen properties, 10 exactly. Among them, three are camped opposite the… Elysée Palace (8th) (see photo below).
And five others are nestled close to the Quai d’Orsay, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, also not very far from the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, built on the initiative of Vladimir Putin. These huge buildings, embellished with interior courtyards, are owned by four civil real estate companies (SCI) behind which hides the same man: Alexeï Viktorovich Kouzmitchev.
The oligarchs still own
This 59-year-old Russian oligarch, whose fortune is estimated at nearly 9 billion dollars, has already been pinned down by the “task force” set up by Bercy to track down the property (real estate, yachts, cars, etc.) of personalities. Russians under financial sanctions. One of the main shareholders of the financial and industrial conglomerate Alfa, also owns a villa in Saint-Tropez (83) bought in 2008 for 37 million euros and frozen last month, according to Le Parisien. This very prominent group in Russia is also hiding behind a 7-storey building, boulevard Maurice Barrès in Neuilly-sur-Seine, facing the Bois de Boulogne. Again, these assets were acquired via an SCI. This made Bercy’s task complicated.
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After Paris, it is without surprise, in the South-East of France that we find the most goods frozen by Bercy. Antibes (8 properties frozen) and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the Alpes-Maritimes (7 properties) or Le Lavandou, in the Var (7 also) are the most cited cities. In Biarritz, a city very popular with Vladimir Poutine’s entourage, only one property is on this red list but it has been talked about a lot recently. Three men had entered last March, in this villa of the ex-son-in-law of the Russian president located between the golf course and the lighthouse of the seaside city, before being released.
It remains to be seen what the state will do with these frozen residences. Will they be seized as the government wishes? For now, the answer is no. Concretely, the oligarchs are deprived of the use of this property – they cannot occupy it or sell it – but still own it. “The Ministry of Justice is working on the legal possibility of seizing property but it is very complicated“, we explain to Bercy.
