Latest news with #VTB
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
See the yachts pulling into Venice, where Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are getting married
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are getting married in Venice this week. Several superyachts have been spotted in Venice; some could belong to their wedding guests. Bezos and Sánchez were photographed partying on his yacht ahead of the wedding festivities. What's the most glamorous way to arrive at a billionaire's wedding? Private jet? Vintage car? Helicopter? The right answer is obviously on a superyacht. A handful of luxury yachts made their way to Venice ahead of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's wedding. While it's unclear if the yachts are there specifically for the multiday event, some of the owners have ties to the couple, making it possible they were invited. Take a look at the yachts that are moored in Venice amid Bezos and Sánchez's wedding. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's powerful wedding guests have been arriving in Venice ahead of their nuptials. Bezos and Sánchez are celebrating their wedding with around 200 guests, inviting celebrities, billionaires, and even royals to their nuptials. Many of their A-list guests have arrived in Venice via private jet, including Kim Kardashian, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey. Still, several luxury yachts arrived in Venice this week as well, potentially bringing some of the guests to the wedding via the sea, which would be fitting for a friend of Bezos. Bezos and Sánchez are often spotted on his $500 million yacht Koru. Most recently, they were photographed hosting a foam party on the yacht on Sunday off the coast of Croatia. A yacht that belonged to a Russian businessman was spotted in Venice. The superyacht Were Dreams arrived in Venice on Tuesday, according to MarineTraffic. The Were Dreams is 52 meters long and can house 11 guests. It was once owned by Andrey Kostin, the CEO of Russia's VTB bank. It's unclear who now owns the vessel, and unlike some luxury yachts, it isn't available to charter. A yacht called the Limerence arrived in Venice on Wednesday. The 53-meter Limerence's owner hasn't been made public, and the yacht can be chartered, so it isn't clear who used it to travel to Venice during the week of Bezos and Sánchez's wedding. According to Yacht Charter Fleet, the vessel can host six guests and has luxury amenities like a helicopter pad. Bill Miller's superyacht Arience has been in Venice all week. The 60-meter-long Arience moored in Venice on Monday. Miller's investment in Amazon helped him become a billionaire, so it's not surprising that he may have headed to Italy for Bezos' wedding. Though Miller owns the Arience, it can also be chartered by others for a fee. As said on its Yacht Charter Fleet listing, the vessel can host 12 guests and has a gym, a waterfall, and a home theater on board. Shahid Khan's superyacht Kismet floated into Venice on Thursday. Khan, who owns the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, has owned the $360 million Kismet since 2024. Khan made the yacht available for chartering in September 2024, charging $3 million a week for its use. The 122-meter-long vessel can host up to 12 guests and has luxury amenities like a spa, three pools, and Jet Skis.
Russia Today
7 days ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Western use of interest from Russia's frozen assets is theft – top banker to RT
The use of the interest generated by Russian assets frozen in the West amounts to theft, Andrey Kostin, the CEO of major Russian lender VTB, told RT on Saturday on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Kostin condemned the actions of the West, the EU in particular, in regard to Russian assets as 'dangerous' games that could eventually be used by others against them. Western countries froze an estimated $300 billion worth of Russian sovereign funds following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Some $213 billion of the assets are held by the Belgium-based settlement house Euroclear. 'It is a very dangerous thing to play such games. You start against one – tomorrow someone will use it against you,' Kostin warned. The use of proceeds from the assets, which have been repeatedly funneled for procurement of military aid for Ukraine, is grossly illegal and amounts to theft, Kostin noted. While various parties in the West have repeatedly mulled the possibility of seizing the assets themselves, they have failed to find a legal mechanism to do so because there is none, he added. 'This is theft. They are using interest now, but interest is the same money of the owner as the principal debt,' he stressed. Moscow has repeatedly condemned the freezing of its assets and has hinted at possible retaliatory measures against Western investments and property in Russia. Last October, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned that Moscow would retaliate in kind and start using the interest generated by the assets of 'unfriendly' countries and organizations held in Russia for its own needs. Kostin has long been skeptical about the prospects of Russia ever seeing its frozen assets again. Late last year, he suggested that the funds will never be returned under the pretext of Ukraine's purported 'reconstruction.' 'In the West, they say, let's pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine from the reserves. And they will draw up such a bill that even the reserves will not be enough,' Kostin said at the time.
Reuters
19-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Russia's VTB still plans to open a branch in Iran but will wait for hostilities to end first, CEO says
Russia, June 19 (Reuters) - Russia's second largest lender VTB still plans to open a branch in Iran, but will wait for hostilities between Israel and Tehran to end and is analysing the situation, VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said on Thursday. VTB, which is under Western sanctions, opened a representative office in Iran in 2023 and has applied for a banking licence. Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran on Thursday and Iranian missiles hit an Israeli hospital overnight, as the week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an off-ramp. "We do not know, nobody knows how the situation will develop there. We are analysing the situation," Kostin told reporters on the sidelines of Russia's biggest economic forum in St. Petersburg. "We applied for a licence, now we will wait, we will not take any action," Kostin said. "We are not in a hurry, let the shooting stop first." Kostin said that Iran had become a significant trading partner for Russia in recent years, but that doing business there was difficult. "We saw that there is a substantial business there, but it is not an easy place for business. The currency regulation there is very complex," Kostin said. A Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) free trade deal with Iran took effect in May. Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad, who visited Moscow in April, said that the free trade deal would increase bilateral trade to $6 billion. Iran was the third-largest buyer of Russian wheat in 2024.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Russia's Sberbank sees 50% increase in Chinese businesses opening accounts in past year
(Reuters) -The number of Chinese small and medium-sized businesses opening bank accounts with Russia's largest lender Sberbank has risen by 50% in the past year, Sberbank's First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin said on Thursday. Trade between Russia and China has soared since Western countries shunned Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, surging to a record 1.74 trillion yuan ($239 billion) last year, based on Chinese customs data, despite payment disruptions caused by Western sanctions. Sberbank has a representative office in China and has opened a centre in Russia's far eastern port city of Vladivostok to develop business between Russian and Chinese companies. Vedyakhin, speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, said a Chinese language tutorial on starting a business in Russia, created by Sberbank, had helped to attract Chinese companies. Foreign direct investment into Russia has fallen sharply, U.N. data published on Thursday showed, and Russia's premier economic forum this week is offering scant hope of a revival, with Western investors largely absent and limited investment from friendly countries including China. Also at the forum, Russia's second-largest bank, VTB, said its Shanghai branch had grown into a fully-fledged bank, expanding its customer base.
Reuters
19-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Russia's Sberbank sees 50% increase in Chinese businesses opening accounts in past year
June 19 (Reuters) - The number of Chinese small and medium-sized businesses opening bank accounts with Russia's largest lender Sberbank ( opens new tab has risen by 50% in the past year, Sberbank's First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin said on Thursday. Trade between Russia and China has soared since Western countries shunned Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, surging to a record 1.74 trillion yuan ($239 billion) last year, based on Chinese customs data, despite payment disruptions caused by Western sanctions. Sberbank has a representative office in China and has opened a centre in Russia's far eastern port city of Vladivostok to develop business between Russian and Chinese companies. Vedyakhin, speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, said a Chinese language tutorial on starting a business in Russia, created by Sberbank, had helped to attract Chinese companies. Foreign direct investment into Russia has fallen sharply, U.N. data published on Thursday showed, and Russia's premier economic forum this week is offering scant hope of a revival, with Western investors largely absent and limited investment from friendly countries including China. Also at the forum, Russia's second-largest bank, VTB ( opens new tab, said its Shanghai branch had grown into a fully-fledged bank, expanding its customer base.
