Authorities in the Netherlands have seized land belonging to the Dutch former son-in-law of Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a criminal investigation, The Guardian reported Thursday.
The confiscated land southeast of Amsterdam was owned by Jorrit Faassen, who married Putin’s eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova in 2008. The couple reportedly subsequently divorced.
Protesters had targeted the empty land shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, erecting signs outside that called on Putin to pull out his forces and release jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
The Dutch prosecutor’s office for financial, economic and environmental crimes seized Faassen’s land plot on May 12, according to land registry documents cited by The Guardian.
Real estate records indicate the 1,432-square-meter plot in the village Duivendrecht was confiscated as part of a criminal probe, the publication said.
Dutch lawyers told The Guardian that Faassen is likely the target of an investigation, but the public documents do not shed light on the nature of the property seizure or the alleged criminal case.
Dutch prosecutors declined to comment to The Guardian on either the alleged confiscation or investigation.
The seizure comes two months after the United States announced the launch of a fresh crackdown on persons and states involved in evading anti-Russia sanctions.
Unlike Vorontsova and Putin’s youngest daughter Katerina Tikhonova, Faassen, who lives in Moscow, has been spared U.S. sanctions.
Dutch authorities recently questioned Faassen about sanctions evasion at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Russia’s investigative news site Proekt reported Thursday, citing Faassen’s acquaintance.
The outlet said he returned to Moscow after having his laptop and mobile phone confiscated.
Previous reporting suggested Faassen was “afraid” of returning to the Netherlands due to the fallout following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The April 2022 investigation by Russia’s exiled independent news website Meduza and the U.S.-funded broadcaster Current Time suggested Vorontsova was in a relationship with a Russian energy company employee named Yevgeny Nagorny. She apparently gave birth to his child in 2017.
