Ukrainian court authorizes seizure of assets of Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis
A Ukrainian court has confirmed a request from the country’s government to seize the assets of Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis and his wife, Kyriaki.
In a statement posted on its website, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry said that the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine had accepted its request on Thursday to seize the Savvidis’ assets in the country.
The seizure was made under the Ukrainian law on sanctions.
Savvidis “is a Russian entrepreneur of Greek origin who has close ties to the Russian government and the ruling United Russia party. [He] is the president of the Federation of Greek Communities of Russia, through which he provides ideological support for the actions of the aggressor state by glorifying the president of the aggressor state and military personnel participating in military operations in Ukraine. The specified activity has a permanent and long-term nature and has been carried out since 2014,” the Justice Ministry statement said.
The confiscated assets include all of the shares of PentoPak, a private joint stock company involved in polyamide food packaging, and all of the authorized capital of the Ukrainian subsidiary of food-packaging company Atlantis-Pak.
Savvidis, who was born in Soviet Georgia in 1959 to Pontic Greek immigrant parents, was a Russian MP from 2003 to 2011 with Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. He is a member of a foreign relations committee that advises the Russian president.
Since 2012, he has owned the Thessaloniki football team PAOK.
