The Crimean authorities plan to nationalize the apartment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the peninsula, TASS reports.

Zelenskyy owns a three-room penthouse in Crimea in the elite complex “Imperator” on the shores of the Black Sea, which his wife bought in 2013, a year before the illegal annexation of the peninsula by Russia.

“In fact, we will take it from him and give it to someone else,” said the head of Crimea Serhiy Aksyonov on Thursday when asked by journalists what will happen to the apartment of the President of Ukraine.

Zelensky’s property here sparked controversy in Kyiv after he became president in 2019, when Ukrainian media revealed in his first wealth declaration that his wife, Olena Zelenska, bought the apartment for less than half the market value.

In total, she paid tycoon Oleksandr Buryak for the penthouse $63,893, which is equivalent to $1,263 per square meter, given that the market value of real estate at the time was between $3,000 and $4,000 per square meter.

The Russians also nationalized Ukrainian businesses in Crimea

Aksyonov’s comments came after Russia announced on November 27 the nationalization of more than 130 large Ukrainian commercial and industrial enterprises on the peninsula, including the DIY hypermarket chain, a cement plant and a shipyard in Kerch.

“Nationalized enterprises are working as usual, there are no plans to lay off employees,” Serhiy Aksyonov assured on Thursday.

“We check a number of objects, coordinate, including with colleagues from the FSB, clarify the lists of owners – this is the work of our anti-terrorist commission. We’re checking now, seeing if there’s public reporting [ale proprietarilor ucraineni] about a special operation, anti-Russian position, etc.,” he explained.

“If we see that this is a citizen of Ukraine, who works especially now for the Ukrainian authorities (…), then what other solution can there be? Such people should not earn here,” the official told reporters.

At the same time, he emphasized that there is no threat to the property of Ukrainians who “do not show hostility” to Russia.

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