Analytical Report on the yacht “Royal Romance” owned by Viktor Medvedchuk

The management of the seized asset - the Royal Romance yacht, which, according to the investigation, belongs to the circle of Viktor Medvedchuk - became the first precedent of an attempted sale of a seized Ukrainian asset abroad. Initially, a Croatian court recognised the Ukrainian court decision on the seizure of the vessel and its transfer to ARMA for subsequent sale. However, the process later slowed down: adapting Ukrainian legislation to the procedure for selling assets abroad and obtaining the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine required for the sale of the vessel took almost a year.

This was followed by a competitive selection of a seller and the failure of two attempts to conclude an agreement with international auction houses, which refused to cooperate after pressure from Medvedchuk’s lawyers. Meanwhile, Croatian courts, citing the absence of an indictment from the Ukrainian side and the expiry of the two-year seizure period, lifted the seizure of the vessel, which significantly complicated ARMA’s further steps to sell the asset.

Despite a relatively prompt new decision by a Ukrainian court to seize the yacht in a new criminal proceeding, the process stalled again because a new application had to be submitted to a Croatian court to recognise the Ukrainian court decision. As of September 2025, the yacht remains blocked, but its sale is impossible.

Problems identified as of 25.09.2025

• Delays in the legal recognition of Ukrainian court decisions in Croatia.
• Resistance from Medvedchuk’s lawyers through attempts to block inspections of the vessel and interfere with the process of selecting a manager.
• Difficulties in international coordination. The process requires effective cooperation with the Croatian authorities and compliance with international maritime law.

The Royal Romance yacht is a luxury mega-yacht-class vessel built to order for a private owner. The vessel is 29 metres high, has six decks and is equipped with two elevators. Among other things, the yacht includes four decks, a cinema, a gym, a swimming pool, a spa area and a cosmetology room, as well as around 50 rooms for various purposes.

Main characteristics of the yacht:

• Length: 92 metres;
• Value: the estimated value at the time of launch was approximately USD 200 million (around UAH 8 billion);
• Flag: it was registered under the flag of the Cayman Islands and, since May 2024, has been flying the flag of Ukraine.
• Location: berth of the Adria Docks shipyard, Trogir, Republic of Croatia.

The yacht was purchased in 2015 for EUR 200 million. Royal Romance is considered to belong to Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is under sanctions imposed by the United States, the EU, Ukraine and other countries for supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The Royal Romance yacht, traced by ARMA within a national criminal proceeding, was transferred to the Agency for sale at auction after it was seized.

In April 2022, the Office of the Prosecutor General (hereinafter - OPG) sent a request for international legal assistance to the competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia for recognition of Ukrainian court decisions. The Split County Court executed the request and seized the suspect’s property for two years - the maximum period provided by Croatian criminal procedure law - and formally transferred the asset to ARMA for subsequent sale.

On 13-22 November 2022, ARMA representatives, during a working visit to the Republic of Croatia, visually inspected the seized yacht and photographed it in the city of Trogir. After that, ARMA launched a series of online consultations with international auction platforms and yacht brokers located in the United States, Monaco, the United Kingdom, France and the UAE.

In January 2023, ARMA developed amendments to regulatory acts (Cabinet of Ministers Resolutions No. 719 and No. 558) to improve the procedure for selling seized assets and introduce the possibility of selling them abroad. The relevant amendments were approved on 14 November 2023 by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1250. To sell the yacht under the improved procedure, ARMA had to obtain the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which the Government issued only on 16 February 2024.

On 21 March 2024, for the first time in the history of Ukraine and in ARMA’s practice, the start of the sale of a seized asset abroad was announced. On 23 April, the Tender Commission selected Troostwijk Auctions (Netherlands) as the seller of the Royal Romance yacht from among three applicants. However, already on 30 April 2024, the winner of the tender informed ARMA by letter that it refused to continue negotiations to prepare and sign an agreement on organising the auction. As a result, the proposal moved to the second-ranked participant, the U.S. auction house Boathouse Auctions. However, no agreement was signed with this participant either.

During one of the international panel discussions, the Head of ARMA emphasised that the Agency was facing extraordinary resistance from Medvedchuk’s lawyers, who were exerting pressure on all participants in the yacht sale process both in Ukraine and abroad.

It is reported that the second auction house’s refusal to sell the yacht was connected with the work of Medvedchuk’s lawyers, the international law firm Steptoe. Steptoe sent the tender winner a decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia establishing supervision over the consideration of OPG requests in cases concerning Medvedchuk and over the work of the investigating judge in Split in the case of the ROYAL ROMANCE vessel.

In June 2024, the High Criminal Court of Croatia returned the case to the Split County Court and appointed another judge in the case. Already on 25 June, the Split County Court ruled to lift the seizure of the Royal Romance yacht. The decision stated that the ground for lifting the seizure was the OPG’s failure to submit an indictment in the criminal case.

At the end of August 2024, it became known that the Security Service of Ukraine had opened a new criminal proceeding against Medvedchuk and that a Ukrainian court had issued a new decision to seize the yacht and transfer it to ARMA for sale. On 2 September 2024, ARMA submitted a request to the OPG to start the process of obtaining legal recognition of the Ukrainian court decision in the Republic of Croatia.

However, as of February 2025, it still had not been legalised. In view of this, ARMA officially applied to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine with a statement regarding possible artificial delay in the process of legalising the Ukrainian court decision abroad in the case of the sale of the Royal Romance superyacht.

In addition, on 27 January 2025, Draft Law No. 12446 "On Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine regarding international cooperation in the field of finding, tracing and management of assets derived from corruption and other crimes" was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It proposes granting ARMA the authority to carry out international cooperation independently, including sending requests for legal recognition of Ukrainian court decisions abroad, without the mediation of the OPG. The draft law is currently being considered by the committee.

As of September 2025, the criminal seizure of the yacht in Croatia had not been imposed again. The OPG submitted a relevant application to the court in the Republic of Croatia, but no decision has been adopted. The yacht remains “frozen” under EU sanctions, so its movement and status change are restricted, and any movement is possible only for specific technical reasons and under guard.

Thus, in June 2025, the vessel underwent technical maintenance in the Croatian port of Trogir and returned to the naval base in Split under the escort of a police boat and a boat of a private security company.

Media materials were also published claiming that the yacht was maintained at ARMA’s expense and had been nationalised. Neither of these claims is true. Ukraine, represented by ARMA, does not carry out technical maintenance or storage of the Royal Romance yacht, as the State Budget of Ukraine does not provide funding for the maintenance of seized assets abroad.

The Republic of Croatia also does not pay port fees or incur expenses, since the relevant sanctions regime provides for an exemption allowing the owner of frozen property to pay maintenance fees and other related fees.

Regarding nationalisation, it should be noted that the regime of seizure of property in criminal proceedings should be distinguished from nationalisation of property, including the application of a sanction in the form of recovery of assets into state income. This sanction is applied only upon a claim filed by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine with the High Anti-Corruption Court, and the prerequisite for such action is the application of the sanction of asset blocking under the national sanctions mechanism. No such procedure has been initiated with respect to the yacht. We may assume that, had such a decision been taken, a Croatian court could have recognised it faster than imposing a repeated seizure within a criminal proceeding that is still far from completion.

At present, the Royal Romance yacht is blocked by a decision of the Standing Government Working Group on Sanctions of the Republic of Croatia. The sale of the yacht is currently impossible. The process of obtaining legal recognition of the Ukrainian court decision in the jurisdiction of Croatia is ongoing.

The State Bureau of Investigation is conducting criminal proceeding No. 22016130000000212 of 19.09.2016 against Viktor Medvedchuk on grounds of criminal offences under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 111, Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 258-3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

By a ruling of the investigating judge of the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv dated 16.03.2022 in case No. 463/1712/22, the property of the non-resident legal entity LANELIA HOLDINGS LTD was seized, namely the vessel (yacht) ROYAL ROMANCE, which is physical evidence in criminal proceeding No. 22016130000000212.

The pre-trial investigation established that the money obtained as a result of the above-mentioned criminal offences could have been used to purchase the movable property, the vessel (yacht) ROYAL ROMANCE, ownership of which was registered on 15.07.2015 to FREGATA MARINE LTD.

According to Viktor Medvedchuk’s 2020 declaration as a People’s Deputy of Ukraine, the ultimate beneficial owner of this non-resident legal entity was his wife, Oksana Marchenko. At the same time, on 31.03.2021 ownership of the vessel was re-registered to another non-resident legal entity, LANELIA HOLDINGS LTD.

These actions may have been aimed at preventing the tracing of this movable property and the enforcement of the restrictive measure provided for by the Law of Ukraine "On Sanctions" - asset blocking, meaning a temporary restriction on a person’s right to use and dispose of property belonging to them. In view of the above, this movable property has the characteristics provided for in paragraph 1 of part 1 of Article 96-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (property obtained as a result of a criminal offence and/or income from such property), and therefore, under part 1 of Article 96-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, it may be compulsorily and gratuitously transferred by court decision into state ownership (special confiscation). Thus, the prosecution had a need to impose seizure on the above-mentioned property.

On 11.09.2022, the investigating judge of the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv transferred the seized vessel (yacht) ROYAL ROMANCE to ARMA for its sale. The relevant ruling is hidden in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

In April 2022, the OPG sent a request for international legal assistance to the competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia for recognition of Ukrainian court decisions. The Split County Court executed the request and seized the suspect’s property for two years - the maximum period provided by Croatian criminal procedure law - and formally transferred the asset to ARMA for subsequent sale.

In June 2024, the High Criminal Court of Croatia returned the case to the Split County Court and appointed another judge in the case. Already on 25 June, the Split County Court ruled to lift the seizure of the Royal Romance yacht. The decision stated that the ground for lifting the seizure was the OPG’s failure to submit an indictment in the criminal case.

From 03.07.2024, the Main Investigation Department of the State Bureau of Investigation began conducting pre-trial investigation in criminal proceeding No. 42024000000000840 on grounds of a criminal offence under Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

By a ruling of the investigating judge of the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv dated 19.07.2024 in case No. 757/32317/24-k, movable property was seized with a prohibition on the right to alienate, dispose of and use such property, as well as to carry out any registration actions in relation to the property of the non-resident legal entity LANELIA HOLDINGS LTD, namely the vessel (yacht) ROYAL ROMANCE, which was recognised as physical evidence in criminal proceeding No. 42024000000000840.

The same court ruling also granted the transfer of the vessel (yacht) ROYAL ROMANCE to ARMA. In particular, the investigation has information regarding possible illegal legalisation of property by Viktor Medvedchuk. This concerns a fictitious sale of the yacht through offshore companies whose ultimate beneficial owner is his wife.