Russia owns 4 million square meters of land in Montenegro.

Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) - Russian citizens own or co-own 18.91 thousand properties and 3.9 million square meters of land in Montenegro, the Real Estate Administration told Pobeda.

The total area of real estate of Russians, including residential and commercial premises, is 1.15 million square meters, and the number of land plots purchased in Montenegro is 12.6 thousand.

The data provided by the Real Estate Office is the first official information about the number of real estate of Russians in our country that is published in the media. They were compiled by the staff of this government agency based on the owners' residential addresses in the documentation provided.

"Victory" writes that small deviations are possible, because all the documentation that is in the cadastre does not contain the owners' residential addresses. "Before the notary began his work, a large number of contracts did not contain the address of residence, and based on the name of the right holder it is impossible to determine his citizenship. However, it should be noted that there are property right holders who have a residence address in Montenegro," explained the Real Estate Office.

Russians own real estate in 13 Montenegrin cities - Baru, Budva, Cetinje, Danilovgrad, Herceg Novi, Kolasin, Kotor, Mojkovac, Niksic, Podgorica, Tivtu, Ulcinj and Žabljaku. They have the most properties in Budva - 6.67 thousand, with a total area of 396.2 thousand square meters. In the capital of Montenegrin tourism Russians have 603.83 thousand square meters of land. It is followed by Bar, where they bought or built 4.66 thousand properties with a total area of 285.03 thousand square meters. In the bar city Russians own the largest amount of land - 923.64 thousand square meters. A large number of properties also belong to them in Herceg Novi - 2.94 thousand with a total area of 180.93 thousand square meters, as well as 698.28 thousand square meters of land. In Kotor they are owners or coowners of 2.35 thousand properties and 659.78 thousand square meters of land. Russians have 1.53 thousand properties and 294.06 thousand square meters of land in Tivta. Russian citizens also have significant property in Ulcinj, where they own 519 properties with a total area of 31.27 thousand square meters, as well as 73.5 thousand square meters of land. In Žabljaku they bought 116 properties and 139.84 thousand square meters of land, and in Kolasin - 33 properties and 131.64 thousand square meters of land.

The Russians also own large plots of land in Danilovgrad - 145.05 thousand square meters, as well as 42 properties.

They also owned real estate in Mojkovac, where they own four properties and 72.88 thousand square meters of land, and in Niksic - 48.19 thousand square meters of land and five properties.

Tomislav Rankovic from the real estate agency Kamin nekretnine in Budva told Pobeda that the Russians are afraid of sanctions and these days want to transfer the properties to other owners. "It's not profitable for them to sell at the moment because they don't know what to do with the money. They don't want to keep them in local banks because they believe that in case of sanctions, the government will more easily confiscate them from the account," Rankovic said.

It is known that Oleg Deripaska, who is considered one of Putin's favorite oligarchs, owns land on Cape Platamuni, where his Overseas asset management company has built a luxury complex. Located in the most enduring part of the central part of the Montenegrin coast, which in the past was considered a strategic military location, Deripaska bought in 2005 before he became the owner of KAP. He has since built two large beaches and several smaller villas there, and is estimated to have spent 50 million euros on it.

Director of the National Security Agency Dejan Vuksic said on the Načisto program on Thursday night that Deripaska bought land on Platamuni for nine euros per square meter and it is a geostrategically important part of our territory.

The real estate in Montenegro is also owned by the chief Moscow prosecutor Denis Popov, whose family business Monte biser built villas in Kolasin and Kotor. His wife, Irina Popova, is one of the owners of this company, which the NGO Mans claims bought land in Morin where a building with 11 beachfront apartments was constructed. The company has built three 540 square meter mountain villas in Kolasin. Popov was personally appointed Moscow prosecutor by Putin in September 2019, and he represented the prosecution against Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Andrei Malevsky also has a luxury villa in Montenegro. He built the magnificent "Villa Abramovich" building in Kruchamy in Ulcinj.

The wealthy Russians bought most of the apartments in the port of Montenegro, from which Deripaska was one of the business partners of Canadian businessman Peter Mancu. They have also purchased many properties in Lustica Bay and also own apartments in the village of Dukljanske Vrto in the Zavala neighborhood of Budva. Russian billionaire Sergei Polonsky, who later sold the business to Igor Pelyukhnov, Naum Yemilfarb and Igor Chapildin, was an investor in Zavala's project. Russian capital is also behind the exclusive Smokva Bay project to be built near Reževića.

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