A Global Hunt for Russian Oligarchs’ Yachts Has Begun

France had already apprehended a Russia-owned cargo ship, a rare at-sea interception made shortly after a first round of sanctions against several individuals, banks and other entities was unveiled. Since then, the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union have expanded their lists of sanctioned individuals, and have pledged to go after a group of ultrarich Russian businesspeople and officials who they accuse of benefiting from close ties to President

Vladimir Putin.

The U.S. Justice Department launched a new task force Wednesday to hunt down and seize the luxury real estate, private jets, yachts and other assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs that officials say have been stashed around the globe. The task force is part of an international effort to raise the cost to the Kremlin and its supporters of pursuing the Ukraine invasion, officials said.

“To those bolstering the Russian regime through corruption and sanctions evasion: We will deprive you of safe haven and hold you accountable,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, whose office will run Task Force KleptoCapture.

France announced this week the creation of a similar task force to hunt down sanctioned Russian oligarchs and their families’ assets in the country. French Finance Minister

Bruno Le Maire

said the state was exploring ways not just to freeze assets but to seize them. “When we seize it, it means you lose the ownership of that apartment, that yacht, or that house,” Mr. Le Maire said, adding that the West was waging “all-out economic and financial war on Russia.”

In response,

Dmitry Medvedev,

deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, tweeted: “Watch your tongue, gentlemen! And don’t forget that in human history, economic wars quite often turned into real ones.” Mr. Le Maire later said his use of the word “war” was inappropriate.

Mr. Sechin’s yacht represents an early trophy in the French effort. Mr. Sechin was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea. He was more recently included on a list of rich and influential individuals the EU sanctioned.

Representatives for Mr. Sechin and Rosneft weren’t immediately available to comment. When Mr. Sechin was sanctioned in 2014 by the U.S., he said he considered the move an endorsement of his effectiveness at Rosneft.

The 280-foot Amore Vero, or “True Love” in Italian, was impounded overnight at a shipyard in La Ciotat, on France’s Mediterranean coast, French officials said. The yacht was undergoing repairs, but French authorities said it was making arrangements to sail urgently. French authorities said it belonged to a company majority owned by Mr. Sechin.

Delivered to its owner in 2013, the yacht was registered under the flag of the Cayman Islands. It arrived in La Ciotat on Jan. 3 and was due to remain there until April 1 for repairs, according to French authorities, who said the fact that the yacht was trying to leave French territorial waters prompted their action.

It wasn’t the first vessel France has stopped since sanctions rolled out after the invasion. France intercepted a Russia-bound cargo ship in the English Channel last weekend, saying the ship was subject to new EU sanctions. French authorities said they stopped the ship, a 400-foot commercial vessel named the Baltic Leader, en route to St. Petersburg, Russia, as part of a joint operation with American authorities.

The vessel, which was carrying vehicles, was named on the U.S. sanctions list for allegedly belonging to Promsvyazbank, a state-owned bank focusing on Russia’s defense sector. The bank is also on the EU sanctions list, and French officials said it owned the vessel. Representatives of the bank weren’t immediately available to comment.

France said it had worked with U.S. authorities.

The new U.S. team, which includes representatives from a number of federal law-enforcement agencies, will aim to enforce sweeping sanctions, export restrictions and other economic measures being levied as officials step up pressure on Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. and its European allies have been escalating sanctions against Russian elites, including Mr. Putin.

The Justice Department said the unit would seek to prosecute sanctions violators; target the use of cryptocurrency to evade sanctions; fight illegal efforts to undermine restrictions taken against Russian banks; and begin criminal cases or use civil forfeiture laws to seize property, including personal real estate, financial and commercial assets.

“We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue this unjust war,” Attorney General

Merrick Garland

said.

Write to Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com