Ministers are investigating who owns a number of yachts moored in Britain amid suspicions that they are linked to sanctioned Russians.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, told MPs that the government had already impounded several private jets linked to senior figures in Russia that had been in the UK at the time sanctions were imposed.
He said officials were also trying to establish the ownership of a “small number of yachts moored in this country” in case they were connected to those on the sanctions list.
Several yachts belonging to oligarchs have already been impounded across Europe in response to the co-ordinated sanctions imposed by Britain, the EU and other western allies.
Spain seized the 279ft superyacht Valerie belonging to Sergei Chemezov, a former KGB officer who now heads the state conglomerate Rostec. The £100 million boat, moored in Barcelona, was registered to Chemezov’s stepdaughter, Anastasia Ignatova, through a British Virgin Islands company.
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French authorities seized a yacht owned by Igor Sechin, boss of the Russian state energy company Rosneft. It was impounded by French customs officers near Marseilles where it was undergoing refurbishment work.
The most expensive yacht to be seized was the £443 million Sailing Yacht A which was confiscated by Italian police in the port of Trieste.
It is owned by the billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, 50, who made a fortune in fertiliser production and coal. Melnichenko, who has also been sanctioned by the UK, brought the yacht to London in 2016 — where it was so large Tower Bridge had to be raised to let it through. The oligarch is also believed to own two properties in the UK.
Until now the government has not revealed any details of the UK operation to seize the mobile assets of UK based sanctioned Russians.
Shapps told the Commons that officials had “detained private jets that we believe are owned by or connected to Putin’s cronies”.
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He added: “I can confirm that we’re investigating a small number of yachts moored in this country we suspect are also linked to Russian oligarchs.
“I have taken steps to ensure that are unable to depart and investigations are ongoing.”
Shapps added that ten Russian-linked ships, which are thought to be containers, had been “turned away or redirected on their course, and eight ships or their companies had severed their Russian ties”.