Ukrainian prosecutors are prepared to file charges against the director of a winery in Russian-occupied Crimea for uncorking a 240-year old bottle for Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

During a visit to what is claimed to be the biggest wine collection in the world at the Massandra winery, Putin and his longtime friend tried a 1775 Jeres de la Frontera that was brought to Crimea by Count Mikhail Vorontsov, during the reign of Catherine the Great.

It is unclear what happened to that bottle, but Ukrainian prosecutors appear to be focusing on a 1775 bottle that they say was opened for Mr Berlusconi by Ms Pavlenko – and they want to charge her with embezzlement.

Berlusconi has been a vocal opponent of the West’s isolationist policy against Russian Federation, implemented in the wake of the annexation of Crimea and conflict in eastern Ukraine.

When it was under Ukraine’s ownership, presidential permission was needed to approve the sale of any vintage bottles.

Two other bottles of that wine were sold at Sotheby’s auction in 1990 and 2001.

According to Ukrainian law, presenting a bottle to someone as a gift without the presidential go-ahead could be seen as theft.

However, the trip, one of many Mr Putin and Mr Berlusconi have enjoyed together in recent years, had further repercussions.

“On September 14, 2015, Italian citizen Silvio Berlusconi was banned from entering the territory of Ukraine for a period of three years to ensure the security of our state”, the document says.

Prince Lev Golitsyn started the first winery in Crimea in 1894, and since then its wines have been celebrated in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation .

“Is it possible to drink?”

Yanina Pavlenko, the director who gave the tour last week, confirmed that she showed the rare wines to Putin and Berlusconi but declined to comment on whether any wine was drunk during the visit.