Croatian police executed a search warrant some ten days ago on the 92-meter luxury yacht Royal Romance, owned by Ukrainian oligarch and Vladimir Putin's ally, Viktor Medvedchuk, moored in the southern coastal town of Trogir, state news platform Hina reported on Wednesday, in their sumary of an article published by the Jutarnji List daily.

Jutarnji List reported that the warrant was issued on 15 November upon request of the US Justice Department, according to a judge at the Split County Court, Dinko Mesin.

Mesin was unable to discuss any details about the warrant except adding that Medvedchuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko, was also named in the order. The United States is prosecuting both Medvedchuk and Marchenko for violating US federal laws, including money laundering.

Citing “unofficial sources” Jutarnji List went on to claim that a team of about ten FBI agents had arrived in Trogir to assist in the search.

According to Jutarnji List, just what was found in the search is “strictly confidential,” but investigators presumably expected to find documents indicating Medvedchuk’s relations with Putin and Russian oligarchs and other contacts, or even cash stashed away in the yacht.

No other media, including Hina, was able to independently verify Jutarnji List’s claims. A Rijeka-based lawyer, Zoran Vukic, who represents Medvedchuk in Croatia, has requested access to the confidential file, but his request was reportedly denied.

Medvedchuk is an oligarch and a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament with close ties to Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin. Following the invasion on Ukraine, he was placed in custody in April by Kyiv authorities, and was later exchanged with Russia in a prisoner swap in September this year. His whereabouts are currently unknown.