© Reuters. Russian businessman and founder of USM Holdings Alisher Usmanov attends a session during the Week of Russian Business, organized by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), in Moscow, Russia March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/Fi
BERLIN (Reuters) -German police and customs officers on Thursday searched several properties in southern Germany, which a source familiar with the matter said belonged to a Russian national targeted by European Union sanctions over Ukraine.
The source told Reuters that Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov was the target of the operation, a Russian-Uzbek businessman who was sanctioned in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“There can be no reason for suspicion against Mr Usmanov, who has always duly declared the personal property that was lawfully acquired by him, in addition to disclosing the funds with which he acquired these assets,” said a spokesperson for Usmanov in response to a Reuters’ request for comment.
A special commission dubbed “Matryoshka”, set up by the German customs authority’s sanctions office, said in a statement that officers searched properties in greater Munich and Tegernsee in Bavaria.
In September 2022, German police searched Usmanov’s villa in the upmarket holiday town of Rottach-Egern on the shores of the Tegernsee. A court later deemed the raids unlawful.
The German customs authority’s special commission said it was acting on court search warrants. It said it could not give further details on the operation for tactical reasons.
