The yacht of Russian tycoon Dimitri Pumpianski was held in the British enclave of Gibraltar after being denounced by a credit bank, the authorities reported, linking that action to British sanctions imposed by the war in Ukraine.

The ship, named “Axioma” and flying the Maltese flag, was “the subject of a detention order by a large international bank in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar”, the government of this small British enclave located on the extreme south of Spain.

Despite British sanctions against numerous Russian tycoons, Gibraltar authorized the entry of the ship into the port “in the interest of creditors with legitimate claims against the ship”, added the Gibraltarian authorities, who did not give more details about the case.

“The ship is now subject to retention by the Admiralty Bailiff”, who is in charge of maritime affairs, “until further order”, added the note.

After a meeting with the head of the Gibraltar government, Fabian Picardo, the head of the British diplomacy, Liz Truss, celebrated on Tuesday on Twitter the retention “by Gibraltar of Dimitri Pumpianski’s superyacht following the sanctions of the United Kingdom”.

Head of oil and gas pipeline giant TMK, Pumpianski is also one of the Russian oligarchs targeted by sanctions adopted by the European Union following the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24.

Several countries, such as Spain, Italy or France, have already retained different yachts linked to Russian billionaires in response to sanctions that provide for the freezing of all their assets in the European Union.

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