Russian-installed Crimea authorities to sell Ukrainian properties

The authorities imposed by Russia in Crimea said on Saturday that they intended to sell about 100 Ukrainian properties, including one that belonged to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine. The Crimean parliament’s speaker, Vladimir Konstantinov, stated that the government will “soon” sell the properties that had been taken over and that the first eight auctions for the properties of prominent Ukrainian businesspeople had already taken place. More than 815 million roubles ($8.51 million) was involved in the sale contracts, Konstantinov claimed in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging service. The Crimean authorities, who had been established by Russia, declared in February that they had nationalised over 500 properties, some of which belonged to prominent Ukrainian economic and political heavyweights. Since 2014, when Russia invaded the Black Sea peninsula, eight years before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has had sovereignty over Crimea, which the international community recognises as being a part of Ukraine. (With agency inputs)