Luxury yachts taken from Russian oligarchs as part of the Ukraine invasion sanctions regime should be handed to a ‘migrant taxi’ NGO that ferries migrants from the North African coast to Europe, the Prime Minister of a German state has said.
Bodo Ramelow, who serves as the Prime Minister for the German state of Thuringia, has said that he wants seized luxury yachts to be confiscated from Russian oligarchs and handed over to a ‘migrant taxi’ NGO that was previously accused of operating a “slave ship” transporting “illegal immigrants”.
Some European countries have impounded the luxury super-ships, and while it has been claimed Germany grabbed a yacht linked to a powerful Russian oligarch worth over half a billion dollars this month, the Ministry for Economy and Innovation has since denied that the seizure actually took place.
Nevertheless, state Prime Minister Ramelow wants held vessels handed over to Sea-Watch, a German migrant taxi NGO operating in the Mediterranean, a press release says.
“I’m in favor of the oligarchs’ luxury yachts being confiscated and transferred to Sea-Watch,” the leftist politician declared, saying he wanted to see “sea rescue with oligarch boats” seized by the country.
Ramelow also reportedly called for “a complete confiscation of all assets of those who support the Putin system”, while also voicing his support for the rearmament of Germany’s Bundeswehr armed forces.
This is far from the first time either Ramelow or Sea-Watch have found themselves in the headlines.
Operating a number of boats in the Mediterranian which shuttle illegal migrants from the coast of North Africa to European nations, Sea-Watch has previously come under fire from authorities for its activities in the region, being accused of human trafficking.
Italian authorities, in particular, have been highly critical of the German group’s operations, with the country seizing one of the NGO’s boats over what it described as several “irregularities”.
One Admiral from the country also called upon Germany to help cease the group’s activities, saying that the NGO was operating a “slave ship”.
“I ask you to take all the necessary measures to stop all Sea-Watch 3 activities related to the landing of illegal immigrants in Italy,” Admiral Nicola De Felice wrote in an open letter to Germany.
“These acts do not honour his nation and its flag, placing Germany and the most Christian German Evangelical Church in a position of ‘unconscious’ collaboration with human traffickers,” he continued.
“In conclusion, [I am] waiting for your government to remove the honoured German flag from the mast of the slave ship Sea-Watch 3,” the Admiral also said.
Meanwhile, Ramelow himself — a prominent believer in multiculturalism — also hit the news when he was forced to implement a system segregating migrants of different cultures.
Migrants of Christian backgrounds in German asylum centres at the time reportedly described fearing for their lives as others within the facilities hardline Sunni interpretations of Sharia law, threatening those of different backgrounds.
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