Authorities have frozen more than €3 million in luxury real estate linked to former Russian politician and businessman Mikhail Yurevich, a naturalised Cypriot who remains wanted internationally over allegations tied to a €35 million bribery case in Russia.

According to Phileleftheros, the order was secured by the anti-money laundering unit (Mokas) and approved by the Nicosia district court.

The order concerns two Limassol apartments connected to Yurevich and his father, Valeri Yurevich.

One property is a luxury apartment in the ONE tower complex in Mesa Yeitonia valued at €2.62 million and registered in the name of the 57-year-old businessman.

The second is an apartment in Yermasoyia’s Park Residence valued at €555,000 and linked to his father.

The combined value of the frozen assets reaches €3.175 million.

The court order was made public because authorities were reportedly unable to locate the individuals involved for service of the proceedings.

The case is one of the most high-profile connected to the now defunct ‘Investment Programme’, widely known as the golden passport scheme.

Yurevich obtained Cypriot citizenship in September 2016 under the investment programme despite findings later showing he had apparently not travelled to Cyprus after 2001.

A report by the investigative committee led by former Supreme Court judge Myron Nikolatos concluded there may have been false declarations in the citizenship applications submitted by Yurevich and members of his family.

The committee stated that “the applicant does not appear to have come to Cyprus after 2001” and found that only one of five applications submitted by family members appeared to bear the genuine signature of the applicant concerned.

The report further stated that “the statements in question may be false” because several applicants did not appear to have been physically present in Cyprus when their applications were submitted.

The committee also referred to wider irregularities in citizenship files handled under the programme, including applications carrying court stamps without proper certification or signatures before registrars.

Yurevich, a former governor of Russia’s Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains, and former member of the State Duma, became the subject of international scrutiny after Al Jazeera’s Cyprus Papers investigation drew attention to his naturalization and the subsequent applications filed by his parents.

The broadcaster reported that he had been placed on Russia’s international wanted list in 2017 over accusations of accepting bribes from government officials and businesses.

According to the Nikolatos committee, Yurevich was “convicted of large-scale bribery during the period 2010-2014 and is now wanted globally.”

Ukrainian sanctions were also imposed against him in 2018 in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Cyprus eventually moved to revoke his citizenship, for in November 2024, his name appeared among 77 investors targeted by President Nikos Christodoulides in a citizenship revocation process.

Reports at the time stated that seven members of the Yurevich family had acquired Cypriot passports.