Massandra, in Russia-controlled Crimea, was long Ukraine’s largest vineyard.

Massandra, in Russia-controlled Crimea, was long Ukraine’s largest vineyard. Founded in 1894, it was spared Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign in the 1980s, a drive that saw many of Crimea’s vineyards uprooted. Three weeks ago, the Massandra vineyard was privatized at an ‘auction’ won by Yury Kovalchuk, often called Putin’s cashier for his former service as chairman of Bank Rossiya. Kovalchuk paid $71 million for Massandra, which includes 4,000 hectares of land and an enoteca of 1 million bottles, one of the world’s largest wine collections. Three years earlier Kovalchuk’s Yuzhny Proekt also bought Novy Svet, a champagne factory near Yalta for $25 million. Ukrainian officials say the sale is null and void due to the illegal occupation of Crimea.