A firefighter confirmed to The Daily Beast that the fire almost engulfed the villa on the shores of Lake Como, which has been seized by Italian officials due to sanctions but still belongs to the Russian state television presenter. The villa, with stunning views of one of Italy’s most idyllic lakes, was undergoing a major renovation when it was shut down. It is Solovyov’s most recent property purchase in northern Italy and he was renovating it thanks to COVID-19 bonus payments for construction projects. Firefighters say they believe the fire broke out when someone threw flaming tires over the wall of the villa. The damage was not significant, but the message was clear. The fire department official said it was definitely intended as a sign of protest. Shortly afterwards, police discovered that a second villa on the lake had been vandalized, with red paint reading “war” and “killer”. The pool in the courtyard below the large villa was also painted red to look like blood. Two of Solovyov’s three properties – worth about 8m euros – that were damaged were confiscated under sanctions against Russian oligarchs. The third, said to be in the name of a family member, has not yet been detained by the Italian financial police. Solovyov, 58, was critical of Italy joining the rest of Europe in imposing sanctions on the oligarchs on a nightly news program in early March. “For every transaction I brought documents proving my official salary, my income, I did everything,” he grumbled when it became clear that his villas would be confiscated. “I bought them and paid a crazy amount of taxes, I did everything. And suddenly someone decides that I, this journalist, am now on the sanctions list. “And they immediately hit my property.” CCTV security plans from the villa are analyzed to determine who may have set the fire. “Carabinieri investigations are ongoing, but we can already say that the vandals did not cause significant damage,” Michele Spagliari, the mayor of the local municipality, said on Wednesday. “The villa is empty at the moment, with rustic walls and concrete floors. “It could basically be seen as an act of demonstration, which fortunately did not have serious consequences.” Spaggiari has spoken out about imposing sanctions on Russian property owners, many of them in Lake Como. Many Russians have acquired Italian citizenship through residence.
