Kremlin says seizure by France of former Mrs Putin’s villa illegal

THE Kremlin has condemned the seizure of a £7.6m palatial French villa linked to Vladimir Putin’s ex wife as “illegal”.

Nicknamed Suzanna, the art deco home was purchased for €5.4 million in 2013, with renovations totalling up to €3.5 million.

The villa is reported to be owned by a real estate company controlled by Russian businessman Artur Ocheretny, who is married to Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, the former Mrs Putin.

They were wed in 2015, two years after her marriage to the Russian president ended.

The villa, in the southwestern coastal town of Anglet, was targeted in December 2023 as part of an investigation into money laundering, prosecutors said on Wednesday. “Any encroachment on private property is illegal from the onset,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “The French authorities are undermining the foundations of their legal system. We have said it many times,” he added.

Le Monde reported that another property, a Paris apartment allegedly belonging to Mrs Ocheretnaya, was also seized in December.

Two days after the invasion of Ukraine, the villa was daubed with graffiti including “F--- Putin”, “Putin’s Mafia” and “Glory to Ukraine!”

Before his move into real estate, Mr Ocheretny ran a seafood business and an event-organising company.

An investigation in 2017 by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project said there was nothing in Mr “Ocheretny’s background that explains how he could have come to own such a prime piece of real estate”.