The NACP has published one of the largest lists of artworks in a private collection. It is the collection of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The list includes 367 works of art estimated at almost USD 1 billion.
Russian oligarchs use works of art to avoid and circumvent sanctions, preserve, and conceal their wealth. The best way to counteract this is to make information about the works of art owned by sanctioned persons public.
For this purpose, the NACP conducted a thorough analysis and collected all known works of art owned by the oligarch in one list on the "War and Sanctions" portal.
The information published by the NACP cannot be found on the official websites of auction houses that sell artwork.
Roman Abramovich was present at Putin's meeting with Russian oligarchs prior to Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, where the consequences of the war, including future sanctions, were discussed. The oligarch transferred the rights to this particular collection to his ex-wife a few weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, probably to avoid the consequences of sanctions.
"By having such an open database of artworks, we can prevent their circulation in the industry and use them to circumvent sanctions. Our goal is to seize these artworks from sanctioned individuals and sell them. The proceeds should be used to help rebuild Ukraine. This is the only way to ensure that such works are returned to true collectors who respect their true value and do not use them as tools of crime," said NACP Head Oleksandr Novikov.The NACP calls on all responsible participants in the art market to disclose information about art objects owned by Russian oligarchs and use the data from the War and Sanctions portal. Thus, you can avoid transactions with such works that may be further qualified as a circumvention of sanctions. More about the War and Art project can be found here. The role of the NACP in sanctions policy is envisaged in the Roadmap for Individual Sanctions developed by the Stanford International Working Group on Russian Sanctions.
