French Law Enforcement Officers Confiscates Putin Ex-Wife’s Villa

In December last year, French officials confiscated a villa on the Atlantic coast that is linked to the ex-wife of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Challenges reports.

The confiscated home, Rêverie (or Souzanna), belongs to Russian Arthur Ocheretny, the possible secret new husband of Putin’s ex-wife, Lyudmila, and is located in Anglet, near Biarritz.

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Research Project (OCCRP), global network of investigative journalists, the 5,000-square-meter property was purchased for €5.4 million ($5.8 million) by Arthur Ocheretny in December 2013 and may be worth up to €7 million ($7.5 million).

According to the publication, the villa was seized on Dec. 6 last year. French law enforcement officers searched the mansion, which was abandoned after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

This happened after a complaint by Transparency International, a non-governmental anti-corruption organization, which demanded to verify the origin of the funds used to buy it.

In addition to Arthur Ocheretnyi's villa, the real estate of several oligarchs close to the Kremlin, such as Hennadiy Timchenko and the Rothenberg brothers or businessman Sergey Toni, is also in the crosshairs.