Prestigious French daily le Monde has reported on an in-depth probe by the independent Russian investigative service Proekt that shows that several very prominent oligarchs have continued to benefit from the war in Ukraine.
One of them is Andrey Melnichenko, who owns Villa Altaïr (purchased for €16 million), Villa Palm House (€3.5 million), Villa Les Oliviers (€2.2 million), Cottage de la Garoupe (€10 million), and La Tourelle de la Garoupe (€8 million) in or close to Antibes, according to local French daily Monaco Matin. As previously reported by NEWS.MC, he also owns a very prominent property in Monaco, the Villa Bromar.*
Following the invasion of Ukraine, Melnichenko claimed to be horrified by the conflict between Slavs, saying: “Being a Russian by nationality, a Belarusian by birth and a Ukrainian by blood, I feel great pain and great dismay seeing brotherly peoples fighting and dying.” He was reported to have been one of dozens of oligarchs close to Putin who attended a meeting with the autocrat in the Kremlin on the day of the invasion.
However, after his very impressive sailing yacht ‘A’ was seized and impounded by the Italian authorities he moved to the United Arab Emirates, where he has citizenship, Proekt says.
The investigative site reports that EuroChem, one of Melnichenko’s companies, continues to provide services to defence companies manufacturing explosives. “So the granulated saltpeter was purchased by the Bryansk Chemical Plant, which produces ammunition for the MLRS Grad, Tornado and Smerch (missiles), which are actively used in the war with Ukraine,” Proekt claims.
Meanwhile in Monaco, Villa Bromar sits unvisited and unused, cheek by jowl with the Monaco Tourism Office, a trophy possession of coal, chemicals and magnesium magnate Andrey Melnichenko.
- This was certainly the case in March 2022
CLAUDE PALMERO and the Villa Bromar: https://news.mc/2020/11/02/villa-bromar-at-centre-of-controversy-investigation/
PHOTO: The Villa Bromar Jack Brodie
