Since the beginning of the war, Western governments have imposed tough sanctions on Russia, its politicians and oligarchic families. For the billionaires, this often means luxury goods that are within reach of the authorities are frozen or even confiscated – and gradually sold. This applies to gigantic villas in popular coastal towns, expensive sports cars, bulging accounts and yachts that didn’t make it out of certain waters in time.
Lawsuits by the oligarchs have so far been unsuccessful
Real showpiece ships like Andrei Melnitschenko’s “SY A”, Igor Sechin’s “Crescent” or Viktor Medvedchuk’s “Royal Romance” have been lying on the chain for months – or in dry docks. The value of the ships in this series of photos alone is more than 4.2 billion US dollars. The Scheherazade, which is said to belong to Vladimir Putin himself, and Alisher Usmanov’s “Dilbar” are battling for first place among the most expensive ships.
The loss of the ships does not go unnoticed by the supposed owners. For example, Usmanov, Melnichenko and former TUI major shareholder Alexei Mordashov have complained that the EU should abandon what the oligarchs consider to be unfair sanctions and release property values. So far they have all failed. A similar fate is suffered by the well-known oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is fighting in a US court over his private jets that are being held in the US (read more here). He has so far been able to keep his four yachts out of the hands of the authorities, which alone have a total value of around 1.25 billion US dollars.
First yachts go on sale
The first two ships will soon go on sale. The hardest hit so far were “Axioma” by Dimitri Pumpianski and “Amadea” by Suleiman Abusaidowitsch Kerimov. The “Amadea” wrote history: first the mega-yacht was detained in the port of Fiji after a long odyssey, then the court fought hard and the crew mutinied. And when the United States got it right, the ship made a journey of several thousand nautical miles to be received in San Diego. That’s not all: a Fabergé egg with a value of several million US dollars was apparently found on board – if it’s real (find out more here). The “Axioma” did not face a mutiny or treacherous pizza ovens, but fell victim to a bad loan due to sanctions (read more here).
In the case of yachts, however, sales in particular have so far been isolated cases – similar to real confiscations. The EU in particular lacks the laws for such an exceptional situation, expropriation is difficult if not impossible. Therefore, many assets have so far only been frozen. But: Against the background of the enormous costs for the reconstruction of Ukraine, politicians are working flat out on reforms in order to be able to monetize the yachts, villas and luxury goods. Presumably also because maintaining the yachts in particular devours a fortune – often at the expense of the tax fund (find out more here).
Smaller vessels also affected
The yachts in the photos aren’t the only ships that are no longer within reach of their owners. As the “Frankfurter Rundschau” reports, Finland stopped the further voyage of more than 20 smaller yachts at the end of March, the ownership of which they wanted to clarify there first. The yacht “Sasha I” by Wladimir Reznik was also caught in Mallorca, as the “Majorca newspaper” reports. Also in the hands of the authorities: The “New Vogue” (MMSI 235104154) of an unknown Russian oligarch and two ships owned by billionaire Alexei Viktorovich Kuzmichev, who, as a co-founder of Russia’s Alfa Group, has over $6 billion at his disposal. The corresponding message from the AFP was published, among other things, by the “Business InsiderAccording to this, French officials are detaining his ships “Little Bear I” and “Little Bear II”. Total value: 100 million US dollars.