France confiscates €120m villa with Russian owner.

France has arrested a luxury villa on the coast of Côte d'Azur on suspicion of belonging to the Russian energy giant Gazprom. This was reported by the newspaper Le Monde with reference to the French prosecutor's office.

According to the report, Villa Maria Irina, formerly known as Villa del Mare, is one of the most luxurious estates on the Côte d'Azur. Its value is estimated at about 120 million euros ($130 million). The villa's grounds include swimming pools, a tennis court and a helipad.

The official owner of the three-hectare plot is Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who purchased the villa in 2010.

However, French prosecutors suspect that Karapetyan acted on behalf of Gazprom in acquiring the plot. According to documents analyzed by Le Monde, the businessman acquired shares in Maritime Villa Holding SNC, the owner of the villa, from Gazprom Neft thanks to a $124 million loan from Gazprombank. The loan was granted by the Russian bank in exchange for a pledge of the villa, according to the publication.

"There is evidence that successive purchases of the villa were made on behalf of different companies whose indirect ownership leads to Gazprom being the actual recipient," the prosecutor's office in Paris said.

The seizure of the villa is the largest confiscation carried out by French authorities since the West began imposing sanctions over the situation in Ukraine, Le Monde noted. Assets belonging to wealthy Russians, including dozens of superyachts, have been seized in various countries as part of Western sanctions.

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