OVIEDO, Spain

Spanish authorities have frozen 12 bank accounts and funds and seized three yachts and 23 properties belonging to Russian oligarchs since the war broke out in Ukraine, the prime minister’s chief of staff said Monday.

Speaking in the Spanish parliament, Oscar Lopez said the assets have been seized in line with the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russian oligarchs.

Over the last two months, Spanish authorities have seized the yachts of billionaires Viktor Vekselberg, Alexander Mikheev and Sergey Chemezov.
But Spain’s actions against oligarchs have reportedly been limited due to a legal loophole that shields the identities of company owners.

According to the El Pais daily, the government is planning to pass new measures that could help unveil the true ownership of more suspicious assets and lead to significantly more seizures.

Lopez also announced that 130,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Spain. Of them, 5,400 are children who are already attending school.

Spain has been impacted by the war in Ukraine in terms of cybercrime, explained Lopez.
In his address, he said the number of cyberattacks in Spain decreased from 13,000 in 2020 to 10,831 in 2021 but that the attacks were becoming increasingly damaging.