The Italian financial police are hardened to face powerful opponents, most notably the mafia.

"Italy has achieved enormous success in fighting organized crime," said Finance Minister Christian Lindner during a visit by the Guardia di Finanza in Rome in early February.

On Friday evening, the Italian judicial authorities targeted a new target – Russian oligarchs.

Christian Schubert

Economic correspondent for Italy and Greece.

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In the port of Imperia in Liguria, the men and women in their blue jackets with thick white lettering turned up to seize the luxury yacht owned by Russian oligarch and TUI major shareholder Alexei Mordashov.

The police seized the "Lady M" in accordance with the latest EU sanctions, government spokesman Ferdinando Giugliano said on Twitter afterwards.

The ship is worth 65 million euros, although lower estimates are also circulating on internet platforms for the 65-meter-long vehicle with a helipad and outdoor swimming pool, which was built in 2013 by the American shipyard Palmer Johnson in Monaco.

Another confiscation in San Remo

Among other things, Mordashov is a steel entrepreneur. A few years ago, his Severstal group owned a steel plant in Piombino, in the Italian province of Livorno, but after a few years with high losses he sold it again.

In a statement on Monday, the Russian denied any responsibility for the Ukraine war.

"I have absolutely nothing to do with the current geopolitical tensions and I don't understand why the EU has sanctioned me," he wrote.

Another confiscation took place in the port of San Remo: It hit the yacht "Lena", valued at 50 million euros, belonging to billionaire Gennady Timchenko, who is close to Putin and became rich with oil deals, among other things.

Luxury property in Lucca

In addition, the Italian state has grabbed a 3 million euro luxury property in the province of Lucca from the seventeenth century, the “Villa Lazzareschi”.

The owner, the oligarch Oleg Savchenko, no longer has access to it.

In total, Italy has so far ordered the confiscation of assets worth 140 million euros.

This includes bank accounts.

The French government had already begun taking action against the oligarchs on Thursday.

Among other things, the yacht "Amore Vero" was confiscated from the main shareholder of the oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin, in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat.

Italian President Mario Draghi also called for the creation of an international register of oligarchs in parliament this week in order to make it easier for them to get hold of their assets.

Cross-border cooperation is important because the billionaires try to use the smallest loopholes and also want to benefit from the "golden passports" sold in Malta or Cyprus, for example.

In Italy, a government “task force” is now working on tracing the assets;

the Italian central bank had previously called for quick action.