MOSCOW, September 23 (RAPSI) - The Finance Guard of Italy has confirmed earlier reports that Arkady Rotenberg’s assets are being frozen. However, the Russian businessman can appeal the order, a spokesperson for the financial authority told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

Corriere della Sera reported Tuesday that the Italian Finance Guard froze 30 million euros of Rotenberg’s assets. Specifically, the Italian authorities sealed off the businessman’s apartment and three villas in Sardinia as well as a house in Viterbo. Also, according to the newspaper, the assets of Rotenberg’s company Aurora 31 that owns the four-star Berg Luxury hotel in Rome near the Spanish Steps and the Veneto street were also blocked.

The spokesperson said that the measures against Rotenberg were approved by the European Union, which included the businessman on its sanctions list last July. The measures will be enforced until the European sanctions are lifted.

“Berg Luxury will continue operating; however, access to the profits will be blocked,” she said. The representative of the Finance Guard also stressed that Rotenberg can appeal the ruling.

Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated due to the situation in Ukraine. The European Union and the United States have imposed several waves of anti-Russian economic sanctions over Moscow's alleged role in the Ukrainian internal conflict.

In response to Western sanctions Russia was forced to take measures aimed at replacing imports from Western countries with possible alternatives. On August 7, Moscow banned food imports from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway.