Russia seizes properties belonging to 77 individuals, companies in occupied Crimea.

Russia has "nationalized" properties that belong to 77 individuals and companies in occupied Crimea because of their owners' supposed "anti-Russian activities," Russian-installed official Vladimir Konstantinov wrote on Dec.

18. In total, Konstantinov said that 1,150 properties had been seized. Russia's occupation administration on the peninsula announced in February 2023 that hundreds of high-value pieces of Ukrainian-owned real estate on the occupied peninsula would be "nationalized."

Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of occupied Crimea, added in September that real estate "belonging to foreigners who committed unfriendly actions towards Russia" would be sold. Konstantinov said on Dec.

18 that the list of properties seized included luxury hotels, banks, including a branch of the State Reserve Bank of Ukraine, factories, and property belonging to well-known Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk. RFE/RL's Crimean service reported in October that Russian proxy authorities in occupied Crimea had seized and subsequently auctioned off an apartment in the city of Yalta belonging to the family of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

A Russian woman from Moscow bought the apartment for more than 44 million rubles (£477,000).

Investigation: Italian company makes sure Russian war machine has the steel it needs Editor's note: This story was published by the Dutch investigative outlet Follow The Money on Dec.

14. The Kyiv Independent contributed reporting to this story and is republishing it with permission.

Key facts: * After Russia seized Crimea and unleashed the war in the Donbas in 2014, the Italian...