Netherlands seizes 14 yachts as Russia faces yet more sanctions over brutal war in Ukraine

The Hague — Dutch customs authorities have impounded 14 yachts in shipyards, including 12 still under construction, as part of still-growing Western sanctions imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government said Wednesday. European and U.S. authorities have seized several yachts with links to Russian tycoons under the unprecedented sanctions that followed the February 24 invasion.

"Given the current measures, these vessels cannot be delivered, transferred or exported for the moment," Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra wrote in a letter to the Dutch parliament.

The 12 yachts under construction, which include luxury vessels more than 38 yards long, were being built in five different shipyards for "Russian beneficiaries," the government said. The other two yachts are currently undergoing maintenance.