On September 8, we published an article entitled «Cyprus villas of Putin’s friends. The next day, a letter from the press service of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov arrived at our editorial office. We decided to publish the text of the letter and leave it to our readers to assess the hypocrisy and mendacity of the Kremlin’s inhabitants for themselves.
To the Cyprus Daily News Editorial Team:
We are writing with a correction to the article “Cyprus villas of Putin’s friends”of 8 September 2024.
This concerns the following section:
“The former head of Rosneft Eduard Khudainatov has fallen under international sanctions for being the nominee of the companies that own the superyachts Shaherezada (worth 700 million USD) and Amadea (300 million USD). Vladimir Putin is believed to be the real owner of the former and oligarch Alisher Usmanov the latter.”
Alisher Usmanov has never owned or controlled the yacht Amadea, and there is no factual basis behind the claim that he is “believed to be the real owner” of the yacht.
In addition, it is incorrect to refer to Mr Usmanov as an “oligarch.” This term typically refers to individuals who enriched themselves through connections with the state, and particularly to those who took part in the privatization of Russian state assets and so-called “loans-for-shares” auctions in the 1990s. This does not apply to Mr Usmanov, who deliberately did not take part in the privatization process or the “loans for shares” auctions after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and his statements on the matter have been widely covered in the press. He built his wealth through successful entrepreneurial activity, which he began in 1987, and later multiplied his capital through successful investments on the open market. Moreover, even the EU Council admitted the incorrectness and inapplicability of the term “oligarch” in respect to Mr Usmanov and dropped this wording from Mr Usmanov’s updated sanctions reasoning.
We ask that the article be corrected to remove the incorrect reference to Mr Usmanov.
Please be informed that Mr Usmanov reserves the right to take legal action in order to protect his name and reputation against false statements.
Best regards,
Press Service of Alisher Usmanov
