German sanctions officers raid Russian citizen's properties in Bavaria

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police and customs officers on Thursday searched several properties in southern Germany belonging to a Russian national in relation to assets frozen under European Union sanctions, customs officials said.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov was the target of the operation.

A legal representative for Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek businessman who was sanctioned in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

A special commission dubbed "Matryoshka", set up by the German customs authority's sanctions office, said in a statement that officers searched properties in greater Munich and Tegernsee in Bavaria.

In September 2022, German police searched Usmanov's villa in the upmarket holiday town of Rottach-Egern on the shores of the Tegernsee. A court later deemed the raids unlawful.

The German customs authority's special commission said it was acting on court search warrants. It said it could not give further details on the operation for tactical reasons.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray, Joern Poltz and Rachel More, Editing by Friederike Heine and Bernadette Baum)