NEW YORK: US law enforcement on Thursday raided two New York properties belonging to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and the target of sanctions, NBC News reported.
Federal agents and local police officers were spotted carrying boxes after they left an apartment in Manhattan’s lavish Park Avenue and a house in the Hamptons, an upscale vacation destination near New York City, according to the report.
Both properties are linked to Vekselberg, NBC said, citing US Treasury documents.
Authorities are also searching a property on Miami’s Fisher Island believed to be linked to Vekselberg, NBC reported.
Vekselberg is the head of the Renova Group, a Moscow-based conglomerate, and one of several wealthy Russians who have been targeted by sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions have frozen Vekselberg’s US assets and banned American companies from doing business with him and his companies.
He is also being investigated by the US Justice Department for committing bank fraud, but no charges have been filed, NBC reported.
In April, Vekselberg’s $99 million superyacht was seized by Spanish authorities at the request of the US government.
The 78-meter-long yacht named Tango was impounded at the Mediterranean port of Palma de Mallorca by Spanish police, Spain’s Guardia Civil police force said in a statement issued at the time.
US raids properties of sanctioned Russian billionaire
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US raids properties of sanctioned Russian billionaire
- Federal agents and local police officers spotted carrying boxes after they left an apartment in Manhattan’s lavish Park Avenue and a house in the Hamptons
Afghan government says Pakistan strikes Kabul and border provinces
- A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Pakistan struck overnight
- Islamabad last month launched a wave of air strikes on its neighbor, an operation it says is targeting militancy
KABUL: Afghan authorities said on Friday that Pakistan had carried out new strikes on Kabul and border provinces, killing four people in the capital.
A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Pakistan struck overnight, adding their forces targeted the Pakistani Taliban militant group, known as TTP.
Islamabad last month launched a wave of air strikes on its neighbor, an operation it says is targeting militancy following growing attacks in Pakistan.
But the Taliban government has denied any involvement or the use of Afghan territory for militancy.
Khalil Zadran, the spokesman for Kabul police, said four people had been killed and 15 wounded in the bombardment that hit homes in the capital, with women and children among the victims.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X that Pakistani strikes also hit the southern province of Kandahar, as well as eastern Paktia and Paktika, which border Pakistan.
In Kandahar, which is home to the administration’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, air strikes hit a fuel depot for airline Kam Air, near the airport.
This company supplies fuel to civilian airlines and United Nations aircraft.
Pakistan insists it has not killed any civilians in the conflict. Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.
Afghan and Pakistani forces have also clashed repeatedly at the border in recent weeks, hampering trade and forcing nearby residents to leave their homes.
‘Open war’
The United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has said that 56 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan, including 24 children, by Pakistani military operations between February 26 and March 5.
About 115,000 people were forced to leave their homes, according to the UN refugee agency.
Fighting between the two countries intensified on February 26, when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, in retaliation for earlier Pakistani air strikes targeting the TTP.
Pakistan then declared “open war” against the Taliban authorities, bombing the capital, Kabul, on February 27.
Since then, clashes have increased in border regions, including overnight Wednesday to Thursday that the Afghan authorities said killed four members of the same family in Khost province.
The Taliban government said on Thursday that four members of the same family, including two children, were killed by Pakistani artillery and mortar fire in eastern Afghanistan.
Seven people had been killed in Afghanistan since Tuesday as a result of cross-border clashes between the two sides, according to the authorities in Kabul.
Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the latest deaths happened early Thursday in the village of Sadqo in Khost province, accusing Pakistan of deliberately targeting civilian homes and nomads’ tents.
