Squatters Who Overtook Russia Oligarch’s Residence Advised They Can Keep

• A home in Amsterdam owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Arkady Volozh was occupied by activists.
• Regardless of the Yandex billionaire’s finest efforts, a decide dominated that the squatters can keep.
• Volozh shouldn’t be the primary sanctioned oligarch to have his European property overtaken.

A court docket has dominated {that a} group of squatters who overtook the Dutch house of a sanctioned Russian oligarch would not have to be evicted, based on native stories. 

Squatters moved into the five-story luxurious home belonging to billionaire Arkady Volozh on October 27, according to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Regardless of a request from Volozh’s legal professionals to evict them, a decide dominated as of Wednesday that they do not have to go away, Dutch news network RTL reported. 

Volozh was sanctioned by the EU in March for offering monetary help to the Russian authorities in addition to faciliatating state media narratives by way of the search engine he co-founded, Yandex. Volozh stepped down as Yandex CEO in June.

His house in Amsterdam was frozen as a part of the measures. Located in an upscale neighborhood, the home is likely one of the costliest within the metropolis, overlooking the picturesque Vondelpark. 

One of many organizers of the squat, who recognized herself solely as Jo, advised De Telegraaf that the property was empty, and that it had round 9 baths. “There’s a rest room and a sauna on every flooring,” she mentioned. A number of individuals have moved in, most of them college students, the paper reported. 

The squat comes amid a wider housing disaster in Amsterdam, the place properties have lengthy been prohibitively costly. Pictures circulating on-line present the property hung with banners saying “In opposition to warfare and capitalism” on them.

Dutch squatting legal guidelines, which had been tightened in 2010, typically hinge on whether or not a property is getting used. Volozh’s legal professionals argued that the constructing was solely empty resulting from intensive renovations, and that Volozh needs to maneuver there together with his household, Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported.

However the decide was skeptical, mentioning that below sanctions Volozh cannot even enter the EU, not to mention get into the home, the paper reported.

That is removed from the primary protest motion within the properties of high-profile sanctioned Russian figures. In March, activists stormed a mansion belonging to billionaire oligarch Oleg Deripaska in London’s Belgravia, as Insider’s Rebecca Cohen and Sinéad Baker reported.

Across the identical time, activists broke into a massive seaside villa in Biarritz, France, which is registered within the identify of Kirill Shamalov, the ex-husband of Putin’s daughter Maria Tikhanova. The activists mentioned they wished to ask Ukrainian refugees to reside there.