Cast off the lines!

Russia’s oligarchs have travelled Europe on their superyachts for years and now seek to avoid the war sanctions. We looked into their latest travels

A large portion of Russia’s establishment was sanctioned by the EU, the UK and/or the US. The West has declared a hunt for the assets of Russian oligarchs, including their yachts. A total of 16 yachts linked with people who are believed to be close to the Kremlin have been seized since 24 February. We have analysed almost 5 million km worth of travels made by 27 yachts de-facto owned by Russian oligarchs over the past 14 years. We found out how they tried to avoid the Ukraine War sanctions, where they loved to spend time before the war began and where do the “blind spots” in their routes come from.

Yacht Racing Deathmatch

The Ukraine War took the crews of Russian superyachts by surprise. In February, the boats were roaming the Mediterranean waters at a leisurely pace or undergoing repair in Marseille or Hamburg. Some oligarchs were having a lovely winter voyage in the Indian Ocean — or in the West Indies. They would even ignore the ongoing events and carry on their usual movement in the first couple of days after the invasion began, as if they received lagged battlefield reports. It was only on 26 February that the yachts started to flee for safe havens one by one.

Nord, a 142 m superyacht owned by Alexey Mordashov, the chairman of Severstal, a steel and mining giant, was skirting the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean on 24 February, according to MarineTraffic. It had been roaming the blue lagoons of the subtropics in the warm equatorial winter weather for two months by that time. A huge boat with six decks equipped with two helicopter landing pads, a swimming pool, a diving facility and even a small submarine, it was launched in Germany in July 2020 and is evaluated at 300 to 500 $ million.

Nord was not alone in the Indian Ocean in February 2022. Ocean Victory, a 140 m yacht of Viktor Rashnikov, owner of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, and the 140 m Clio, owned by oligarch Oleg Deripaska, were nearby in the Kaafu Atoll of the Maldives. The atoll also had some smaller Russian yachts at that time, such as Vladimir Potainin’s 88 m Nirvana and the 66 m Titan yacht owned by Alexander Abramov of the Evraz Group.

All the President’s Yachts

It is believed that Vladimir Putin may de-facto own a total of six yachts. At least one of them, an 82 m vessel named Graceful managed to avoid seizure after the war had started. The ship was constructed by Russia’s Sevmash in 2014. The pictures of Graceful were posted by The Market Herald in April. The Australian media outlet found out the ship had its own aquadisco, a dancefloor transformed into a swimming pool. The ship’s amenities also include a wine cellar, six guest cabins, a private office and a library.

Graceful was in Hamburg’s shipbuilders Blohm & Voss on 7 February where it was being upgraded. The works were scheduled to finish in May 2022, according to BBC. The ship, however, set off for Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad two weeks before the war started. It is unknown where the yacht is at the moment, its transponder is switched off.

Scheherazade, the most luxurious superyacht of Putin’s alleged fleet, was seized in Italy in May. Its value is believed to be over $700 million.

The earliest data on Scheherazade’s travels is of June 2020 when it sailed from the German port of Blumenthal to Norway’s Kristiansand. It travelled from Gibraltar to Croatia’s Dubrovnik between 3 and 12 June 2020. The yacht has been mostly sailing between Croatia and Montenegro ever since, sometimes visiting Turkey’s Bodrum and Istanbul, Egypt’s Hurghada, Cyprus and even Sochi. Scheherazade used to undergo technical maintenance in Italy’s port of Marina di Carrara every year; this is where it had been docked since last September and then seized by the Italian authorities in early May.

Putin’s alleged yachts often travel alongside other vessels. Graceful often cuts the sea together with Alekperov’s Galactica Super Nova. Both yachts were spotted at the same time in Barcelona in 2017 and in Tivat, Montenegro, in 2021. On separate occasions, Graceful was also seen in Barcelona together with Alisher Usmanov’s Dilbar, Pumpyansky’s Axioma and yachts linked with Andrey Guryev, Abramov and Rostec’s chairman Sergey Chemezov.

Scheherazade shared the same dock with Pumpyansky’s Axioma, Viktor Vekselberg’s Tango and Alekperov’s Galactica Super Nova in Dubrovnik in June 2020. Next month, Scheherazade was seen in Tivat together with the yachts of Vekselberg, Alekperov and Oleg Deripaska.

The ship also “met” the yachts of Abramovich and Pumpyansky in May 2021 in Croatia. Finally, it was docked in Tivat together with Alekperov’s Galactica Super Nova in June and September 2021.

The Forbidden Waters

If you own a superyacht, you can travel to any place in the world: you may go round the Tierra del Fuego, reach the Antarctic, visit Greenland, Madagascar or the Kamchatka Peninsula. However, the luxurious vessels rarely if ever sail to such locations. Their favourite destinations are the West Indies, the Mediterranean, and the subtropics of the Indian Ocean easily reached via the Suez Canal. They often go in “schools” just like fish.

Yachts owned by Russian officials switched off their transponders most often. Out of six yachts who spent over 50% of their lifespan with transponders off, five are owned by the state officials or chairmen of the state-controlled companies. Another 21 ships had their transponders off less often; a total of 16% of time. Only three yachts never switched off their transponders. Those are Abramovich’s Solaris, Mordashov’s Nord and Viktor Kochetkov’s Phi.

Graceful и Scheherazade, linked with Vladimir Putin, spent most time off the grid, 77% and 82% of the time, respectively.

It is common practice for Graceful to remain undetected for longer than three months, most frequently near the shore of Spain. The yacht “teleported” from Turkey’s Zonguldak to Sochi in 2018. In 2019, Graceful disappeared from the map near Marseille and then reappeared near Barcelona. Additionally, the ship went off the grid for six months in 2020.

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The EU sanctions were a painful blow upon the Russian oligarchs and their yachting activities. 26 out of the 27 sanctioned yacht owners will not be able to enter the territorial waters of the EU countries. Vladimir Potanin is the only exception since he has only been sanctioned by Canada as of now. A total of 16 yachts have already been seized.

Moreover, the lovely resorts of Florida, the Bahamas and – partly – the West Indies will be unavailable for the sanctioned billionaires. Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla and the Virgin Islands will not see any Russian yachts anymore. There is a lot of cooperation between the Caribbean nations and the United States, which makes travelling to these countries very risky for the sanctioned oligarchs.

“Turkey, Russia, Asia and the Pacific might become a good alternative for them. Thailand, Malaysia, the Seychelles, and the Maldives are all suitable countries for yachting, although it is far cry from Europe. This is somewhat more exotic,” Maria Moshkina says.

The Maldives government is not going to pressure sanctioned Russian oligarchs or seize their yachts, Reuters wrote in early April. Russia’s billionaires often visit this island nation in winter or early summer when it is too cold and snowy in Russia. The yachts of Russian oligarchs entered the port of Malé, the country’s capital, on 101 occasions.