Russian billionaire Arkady Volozh will make a second attempt on Wednesday to evict his property in Amsterdam’s Vossiusstraat, which has been occupied for six months. According to Parool, the story is tinged with yellow: the man, in fact, would have presented to the Court of Appeal of the capital photos and screenshots of private group chats, collected by a Ukrainian man who pretended to be a refugee and would have asked to the squatters to welcome him into the building.
“We opened our space to him and welcomed him with open arms,” the squatters said in a statement. “It has now become clear to us that he spied on us and passed information to Volozh’s lawyers in an attempt to discredit us and eventually clear the property. We have no idea if this person was hired from the start or if she was later approached and coerced, bribed or intimidated into providing information.”
At the end of October, the occupiers moved into the majestic villa at Vossiusstraat 16, emphasizing the political nature of the action. The squatters thought it was impossible for a Russian oligarch – who allegedly has close ties to President Putin and is on the European sanctions list – to use a Dutch home to turn a profit.
During summary proceedings in November, the judge ruled in their favor: the man is on the list of oligarchs subjected to EU sanctions.