Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s apartment in Crimea has been nationalised and will be sold off to finance the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The apartment is one of 57 properties belonging to foreign citizens and countries that the Crimean State Council voted to nationalise on 24th May.
Russia invaded and subsequently annexed Crimea from Ukraine in February and March 2014 in the aftermath of the Maidan Revolution.
Only a limited number of countries have since officially recognised the peninsula as being de jure part of Russia.
The proceeds from Zelensky’s apartment in the city of Yalta will also provide aid to the families of servicemen killed in action and to the families of servicemen called up as part of a partial military mobilisation, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
The chairman of the State Council of Crimea, Vladimir Konstantinov, said of the nationalisation of the apartment: “Of course, it’s not a big loss for him (Zelensky).”
On its selling-off, Konstantinov said: “The policy will have a social aspect.”
According to Russian state-controlled media, Zelensky’s apartment – a “three-room penthouse” – is worth an estimated USD 800,000 (GBP 647,000).
It was allegedly purchased from a business tycoon for just under USD 164,000 (GBP 133,000) – allegedly at least 50 per cent lower than the market rate – in 2013.
TASS reports that the nationalisation of property belonging to individuals associated with the Ukrainian government was ordered by the head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, last year.
According to TASS, about 700 properties have been nationalised since last autumn, including assets belonging to Ukrainian politicians Serhiy Taruta and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and Ukrainian billionaire businessmen Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Rinat Akhmetov.
Both TASS and other Russian state-controlled media have been cited as sources of disinformation as part of Russian influence operations.
