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Russian Superyachts Find Safe Haven in Turkey, Raising Concerns in Washington

Turkey’s welcoming ports are symptoms of a much larger problem: evasion of U.S. sanctions against Russia.

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By Elif Ince ,  Michael Forsythe and Carlotta Gall

PORT AZURE, Turkey — On a hot August evening at a marina on Turkey’s southern coast, the crew of the Flying Fox was hard at work, keeping the 446-foot superyacht immaculate for future guests willing to pay $3 million a week. One crew member leaned over the railing at the stern, wiping the highly polished surface next to the ship’s nameplate. Another was busy with a squeegee, cleaning glass.

The Flying Fox, the world’s biggest yacht available for charter, played host last year to Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who skipped the Met Gala in New York to cruise the Mediterranean and enjoy the vessel’s over-the-top amenities: a 4,300-square-foot wellness center with a Turkish bath and a fully equipped beauty spa, among many others.

Then Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, the Flying Fox has been caught up in the dragnet of international sanctions designed to hobble the lifestyles of the oligarchs who help sustain President Vladimir V. Putin’s rule.

Yet, while some superyachts owned by or linked to Russian oligarchs facing sanctions have been seized in ports around the world, the Flying Fox and others caught up in the broader Russia penalties have found safe haven in Turkey, the only NATO member not to impose sanctions on Russia.

The flotilla of Russian superyachts in Turkish waters is raising tensions with the United States, which sees Turkey’s welcoming of the vessels as a symptom of the much larger problem: Russia’s access to Turkey’s financial system, potentially undermining Western sanctions.

Turkey’s strongman leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has criticized Western sanctions against Russia, said in March that Turkey could not impose sanctions because of its energy needs and industry deals. “There is nothing to be done there,” he said.

In all, at least 32 yachts tied to oligarchs and sanctioned entities have sheltered in the country’s waters in recent months, able to move about or moor in its picturesque coves and bays without fear of seizure, according to a New York Times analysis. Ownership records of superyachts for the ultrawealthy are notorious for being hidden behind layers of shell companies. The Times analysis was constructed with news accounts linking Russian oligarchs to particular yachts that were then matched with vessel positions available on commercial sites such as MarineTraffic . In many instances, the yachts were spotted in Turkish waters by a Times reporter.

On Aug. 19, the Treasury Department issued a statement saying that the deputy treasury secretary, Wally Adeyemo, had told a Turkish official that the United States was concerned about Russians using Turkey to evade sanctions.

Three days later, Mr. Adeyemo sent a letter to Turkish business groups warning of penalties if they worked with Russian individuals or entities facing sanctions. Turkish banks, he added, risked losing vital correspondent relationships with global banks — and even access to the U.S. dollar — if they did business with sanctioned Russian banks.

In September, several Turkish banks stopped accepting the Mir payment system — the Russian equivalent of Visa or MasterCard. Their actions came after the United States warned that financial institutions expanding the use of Mir or entering into new agreements risked running afoul of American sanctions against Russia.

Nevertheless, Turkish marinas continue to service sanctioned Russians and their superyachts.

The warm turquoise waters, secluded beaches and trendy establishments of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast have long made it a popular and convenient destination for Russian yacht owners and charterers during the summer. Local restaurant menus are printed in three languages: Turkish, English and Russian.

In June, the Flying Fox was singled out by the United States as “ blocked property ” and its management company, Imperial Yachts, was also sanctioned. Nevertheless, the Flying Fox has been moored since at least May at Port Azure, a marina in the posh resort town of Göcek. Other superyachts there owned by or linked to sanctioned Russians have been cruising from one postcard-worthy cove to another in the area.

The town’s polluted waters are unsuitable for swimming, an attractive feature for superyacht owners because it keeps away crowds and unwanted publicity. And the vessels can easily steam to pristine waters nearby. If the pampered guests have any unfulfilled needs, small boats roam around the harbor, selling groceries, ice cream, Turkish crepes and even massages.

Port Azure, touted as the first “mega-yacht-only marina” in Turkey, was opened last year by STFA, one of Turkey’s biggest conglomerates. The marina , which prides itself on its website as being a “haven” that makes “problems big and small go away,” has hosted at least eight yachts linked to Russian oligarchs or sanctioned companies this past summer, the Times analysis found.

On June 1, a Turkish yacht broker posted on Instagram a video taken at Port Azure showing a lineup of five yachts collectively worth almost $1 billion, including the Flying Fox; the Lana, recently listed at $1.8 million a week for charter by Imperial; and the Galactica Super Nova, linked to Vagit Alekperov, a sanctioned Putin ally, according to news media reports.

As of Oct. 20 there were at least 13 yachts in Turkey linked to sanctions, the Times analysis found. Of those, four were owned by or linked to sanctioned individuals and nine have recently been offered for charter by Imperial, the sanctioned Monaco-based company.

A spokeswoman for Imperial Yachts said that after the firm was sanctioned in June, its clients terminated their contracts with the company and that it “no longer manages or charters” any of the yachts in Turkish waters.

But until late August, Imperial advertised yachts for charter and for sale on its website, including yachts in Turkish waters. After an inquiry by The Times, the listings were removed from Imperial’s website, which now displays only a notice announcing that the company had been sanctioned. The company spokeswoman said that it had “kept its other pages alive as a reflection of its former brand.”

“During the time that the other website pages were visible, Imperial did not engage in any business engagements,” Imperial said in response to emailed questions.

Roman Abramovich, the most visible Russian oligarch recently seen in Turkey, does not use Imperial Yachts to manage the construction of his opulent yachts or staff them after they are put to sea. Four yachts owned by or linked to Mr. Abramovich, who has been sanctioned by Britain and the European Union, the Times analysis shows, were in Turkey in August.

Should the United States choose, it has tools at its disposal to enforce its sanctions on the Russian oligarchs, even if their vessels are in Turkish waters and even if the Turkish government is unwilling to cooperate, said Daniel Tannebaum, a former sanctions official who served at the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

One way, he said, would be to place sanctions on companies that service the oligarchs’ yachts in Turkey — the marinas, caterers and fueling companies. In that case, not just Russian yacht owners but also the many American yacht owners now in Turkish waters would have to take their business elsewhere, while the banks that do business with these companies might close their accounts so as to avoid becoming a target.

Superyachts are a significant source of income for the marinas, as well as other businesses in the area. In one example, Turkish news media outlets reported in April that Mr. Abramovich’s biggest yacht, the 533-foot-long Eclipse, ran up a fuel bill of $1.66 million in the port town of Marmaris. Its tanks took 22 hours to fill.

One of the four superyachts linked to Mr. Abramovich, the 460-foot Solaris, is moored in the Yalıkavak Marina in Bodrum, a trendy resort town in Turkey’s south. While lying idle, it still has 20 crew members who make trips every day to provision it, supply it with water and electricity and dispose of its waste, according to a port employee with direct knowledge of the matter, who spoke anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Solaris also receives a truckload of food every week through a catering company, he said, adding: “Twenty cases of asparagus — what would you do with so much asparagus?”

Yalıkavak is Turkey’s most luxurious marina, with stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton and Valentino on a promenade lined with palm trees overlooking the harbor. At least three yachts recently offered for charter by Imperial, the sanctioned management company, and three other yachts owned by or linked to oligarchs moored at Yalıkavak Marina this summer, the Times analysis shows.

In an emailed statement, the marina said that even though Turkey has not adopted sanctions, because it recognizes “international concerns,” the Solaris has been kept outside the marina’s boundaries. As for the vessels associated with Imperial Yachts, the marina said that it did not know, as the summer is “quite a busy time” and that it didn’t have a system in place to check whether an individual yacht might fall under international sanctions.

In August, the Eclipse, one of the yachts linked to Mr. Abramovich, was anchored in the middle of the bay off Göcek, a three-and-a-half-hour drive down the coast from Yalıkavak.

On an early morning in August, Ömer Kırpat, 56, was fishing on the shore in Göcek, sitting under a willow tree overlooking the yachts.

“The bells aren’t jingling,” he said, pointing to the bells attached to his rods to alert him when the fish bite. He showed his bucket with one lone fish inside, explaining that the fish avoid the shore because of pollution and noise from the boats.

Port Azure, the Göcek marina hosting the Flying Fox, was built over the port of a state-owned paper factory where Mr. Kırpat worked for 13 years as a security guard until it was privatized in 2001. He used to go there to swim, fish and have picnics every weekend with other factory workers and their families. “It was sparkly clean,” he said. “We caught the biggest fish there.”

He tried to go into Port Azure last year but was chased away. “We’re banned,” he said. “Soon they won’t even allow us to look inside. It’s heartbreaking.”

Michael Forsythe is a reporter on the investigations team. He was previously a correspondent in Hong Kong, covering the intersection of money and politics in China. He has also worked at Bloomberg News and is a United States Navy veteran. More about Michael Forsythe

Carlotta Gall is a senior correspondent currently covering the war in Ukraine. She previously was Istanbul bureau chief, covered the aftershocks of the Arab Spring from Tunisia, and reported from the Balkans during the war in Kosovo and Serbia, and from Afghanistan and Pakistan after 2001. She was on a team that won a 2009 Pulitzer Prize for reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan. More about Carlotta Gall

Russian oligarch’s super yacht arrives in Turkish waters

Russian billionaires are heading for Turkey to flee Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A yacht linked to a Russian aluminium tycoon arrived in a bay near the southwestern Turkish resort of Gocek on Saturday, as more Russian billionaires head for Turkey to flee Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Oleg Deripaska, founder of Russian aluminium giant Rusal, has been sanctioned by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union.

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France seizes russian oligarch’s yacht amid eu sanctions, is seizing the yachts & mansions of russian oligarchs enough no., us seizes yacht docked in spain and owned by russian oligarch.

A witness saw the 73-metre (239.5 feet) yacht Clio arrive off the coast of Gocek in the Aegean coastal province of Mugla. The Cayman Islands-flagged vessel remains in the bay off Gocek.

The arrival of the Clio in Turkish waters came after two super-yachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who made a surprise appearance at Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul this month, docked in Turkish ports.

Turkey, a member of NATO, shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, and has good ties with both and has mediated in the continuing conflict.

Istanbul has supported Kyiv, but also opposed sanctions on Moscow, including measures against Russian billionaires.

Ankara has relied heavily on Russian energy imports and tourists and has emerged as a safe haven for Russians fleeing sanctions, and many have invested in Turkish property.

On April 4, the US government seized a mega-yacht in Spain, the first in Washington’s sanctions enforcement initiative to “seize and freeze” giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites.

Spain’s Civil Guard and US federal agents descended on the yacht, Tango, at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

Documents tied to the US investigation alleged that oligarch Viktor Vekselberg bought the Tango in 2011 and used shell companies to hide his interest in the vessel, the US Department of Justice said.

In early March, customs officers in France seized a yacht belonging to Rosneft oil company boss Igor Sechin as it tried to leave the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat in a breach of EU sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

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Second Abramovich superyacht docks in sanctions-free Turkey

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• Two yachts are docked in resorts in southwest Turkey
• Turkey says it opposes sanctions imposed by Western allies
• Sources say Abramovich, other Russian investments expected

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Additional reporting by Yesim Dikmen in Istanbul, Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Frank Jack Daniel and Alison Williams

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Russian oligarch stashes second yacht in Turkey, apparently to beat Ukraine-linked sanctions

March 22, 2022 / 7:55 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Ankara, Turkey — A second superyacht belonging to Chelsea soccer club owner and sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has docked in a resort in southwestern Turkey - a country that's not applying sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine , Turkish media reports said Tuesday.

The private DHA news agency said the Bermuda-registered Eclipse docked at a port in the resort of Marmaris amid international efforts to freeze assets belonging to top Russian businessmen linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A day earlier, Abramovich's Bermuda-flagged luxury yacht My Solaris arrived in the nearby resort of Bodrum, triggering a protest by a group of Ukrainians who boarded a small motor boat and tried to prevent the yacht from docking.

Last week, the European Union updated a list of individuals facing asset freezes and travel bans over their ties to the Kremlin and began imposing sanctions on Abramovich. The 55-year-old had already been punished in Britain.

NATO-member Turkey has close ties to both Russia and Ukraine. It has criticized Moscow's invasion of Ukraine but has also positioned itself as a neutral party trying to mediate between the two.

Abramovich announced earlier this month that he's selling the Chelsea club. Abramovich said the sale won't "be fast-tracked but will follow due process" and that the net proceeds will go to victims in Ukraine.

"This has never been about business nor money for me, but about pure passion for the game and Club," he said. 

Forbes has valued Abramovich's net worth  at $12.4 billion  while Chelsea was worth an  estimated $3.2 billion  in 2021. The 55-year-old, who was once Russia's richest man, said he will set up a foundation to which net proceeds from the sale will be donated.

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How Russian oligarchs are sailing their yachts from Europe to Turkey to avoid sanctions

When a number of uber-wealthy Russian businessmen and politicians were slapped with sanctions by the European Union and the United States after the invasion of Ukraine, many of them did what they could to spirit away the assets. In some cases, those assets included yachts, some the size of whales. In recent weeks, online investigators have been using public source data to track their locations. They say that a number of yachts managed to leave European waters, bound for Turkey or Russia. 

Issued on: 05/05/2022 - 19:15 Modified: 09/05/2022 - 14:23

Yalikavak Bay, in Turkey, April 24: Dutch tourists posed and took a selfie in front of a superyacht called My Solaris . The boat, which, at 140 metres long dwarfs its environs, belongs to Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch and former owner of the Chelsea football club who has been under European sanctions since March 15. 

Having lunch today in #Yalikavak with Abramovitsj yacht #Solaris in the background. Love ❤️ Turkey 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/pWBiBelMnk — 🇺🇦🅤🅟🅢🅘🅓🅔 🅓🅞🅦🅝🇳🇱 (@renetiemo) April 24, 2022

When yachts move around, they use AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders to signal their GPS location, as well as to help to avoid collisions.

Websites like MarineTraffic or VesselFinder publish the AIS details of ships moving around the world. If you look at one of these sites, you can see that My Solaris left Barcelona on March 8 . The yacht then popped up in Yalikavak Bay on April 23 , where it was still located on May 5, according to MarineTraffic.

'I thought that keeping an eye on the oligarchs and their movements might bring some useful information'

Twitter user @PutinIsAVirus uses online tools to track the locations of dozens of yachts belonging to Russian oligarchs. A software developer by trade, he documents the movements of these yachts on an interactive map . The user, who wanted to remain anonymous for professional reasons, explained his process to the FRANCE 24 Observers team: 

In 2016, I started to become active in open source intelligence investigations. It started as a hobby, and still is. When the Ukraine crisis started, I tried to increase the scale of my work to attempt to help and do something because it was hard to sit still and do nothing. I thought that keeping an eye on the oligarchs and their movements, especially sanctioned ones, might bring some useful information. First, it took a while for them to react. This was good, because it allowed many of them to be seized in European ports. It's not easy to quickly find a crew for a boat which was not scheduled to leave. These oligarchs also had their European bank accounts frozen, and their Russian accounts were not usable. So for a boat that takes 200,000 dollars in gasoline, it might be a bit of a problem to get access to this amount of money if you don't have access to your bank account and your credit card doesn't work.  We can see some hubs where sanctioned vessels were able to run to: this is essentially the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

Fleeing sanctions, Putin's inner circle seeks safe ports for their superyachts: Roman Abramovich's 🇧🇲yachts are portside, Eclipse in Marmaris & Solaris in Bodrum. Dmitry Medvedev's 🇰🇾yacht Universe was in Marmaris. Maxim Shubarev's 🇨🇰yacht Polaris is in Göcek's Skopea Marina. pic.twitter.com/DNlEGAZDvi — Yörük Işık (@YorukIsik) March 23, 2022

Several yachts owned by oligarchs haven’t been emitting an AIS signal for a few weeks, making it impossible to find their location on MarineTraffic or VesselFinder. In theory, you have to turn on your transponder when you navigate but it’s pretty common for owners to ignore this rule to hide their whereabouts . However, very often they can be found from satellite images and amateur images. 

Some yachts go through Turkey to get to Russia 

From his base in Turkey, Yörük Işık watches out for the vessels crossing the Bosphorus Strait, which links the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. An analyst who specialises in tracking ships and the founder of the Bosphorus Observer, he managed to take photos of several yachts thought to be owned by Russian oligarchs over the past few weeks. 

I am in a great ship-spotting location, so I just catch them. So far, I saw approximately ten of them.  Most of them come to Turkey because Turkey has very advanced maritime services, because these yachts have to constantly be maintained. I think they are all running to Sochi. After some time in Turkey, so far the pattern is that they are crossing the Bosphorus and going to Sochi [Editor's note: On the Russian coast of the Black Sea]. There are still several of them in Turkey, in ports where they can get maritime services, a few of them are also in the coastal towns.

Yörük Işık took this picture of a yacht called Universe in Ataköy Port in Istanbul on March 28, 2022. The vessel, which is thought to belong to former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, left Imperia Port in Italy  on March 2. On April 22, it was photographed by an amateur ship watcher in Sochi, Russia .

Cayman Islands 🇰🇾 flag 74m mega yacht Universe, likely owned by Dmitry Medvedev @MedvedevRussia , former President & former PM and current Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, is in Istanbul's Ataköy Marina. pic.twitter.com/QAChVghCrP — Yörük Işık (@YorukIsik) March 28, 2022

While European and Turkish ports are equipped with the infrastructure and services needed for yachts, that is less common in Russian ports , says the person who runs the account @PutinIsAVirus :

Russia and the Black Sea are not equipped for so many and such big vessels. They have some nice touristic harbours in the Black Sea, but they might host only one or two of these yachts. Abramovich's vessels are over 150 metres long – few ports are equipped for something like that. These vessels were never intended to go back to Russia – they were meant to stay in the Mediterranean, in the Caribbean or the Indian Ocean.

Owners hidden behind shell companies 

Alex Finley, a former CIA officer and novelist , keeps her eye on yachts belonging to Russian oligarchs from her home in Barcelona. She says that one of the hardest parts is figuring out, for certain, who owns each yacht:

You can say that we suspect this person is the ultimate beneficial owner, but now the authorities have to prove it. That means pulling back all the different shell companies to figure out really in the end who the owner is. And that's very difficult because the ownership structure is set up to provide precisely that kind of privacy. 

On May 5, a yacht belonging to a Russian oligarch under sanctions was seized  in Fiji at the request of the United States. The boat in question was the Amadea, which is estimated to be worth 300 million dollars and is thought to belong to oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

“This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide, not even in the remotest part of the world. We will use every means of enforcing the sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine,” wrote US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement . 

European sanctions have, in effect, frozen the assets of around a hundred people who are thought to support the Russian government or benefit from it in some way. Several yachts have already been seized in France, Spain and Italy. Some countries, however, are now saddled with the cost of maintaining these yachts, which can reach 150 to 200,000 euros per month.

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Ukraine invasion — explained

The roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine go back decades and run deep. The current conflict is more than one country fighting to take over another; it is — in the words of one U.S. official — a shift in "the world order." Here are some helpful stories to make sense of it all.

Ukrainian sailors tried to block a Russian oligarch's yacht from docking in Turkey

Rachel Treisman

A yacht reportedly belonging to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is docked at an Aegean coastal resort in Bodrum, Turkey, on Monday. A group of young Ukrainian sailors had protested its arrival from a small boat. -/Ihlas News Agency/AFP via Getty hide caption

A yacht reportedly belonging to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is docked at an Aegean coastal resort in Bodrum, Turkey, on Monday. A group of young Ukrainian sailors had protested its arrival from a small boat.

Two superyachts linked to Russian oligarch and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich have reportedly docked in the sanction-free waters of Turkey in recent days, though not without protest.

The Solaris yacht left Montenegro last week and traveled southeast to Turkey, avoiding European waters and arriving at the port city of Bodrum on Monday, Reuters reported , citing shipping data.

Why so many Russian billionaires are called oligarchs

There, the 460-foot yacht was met by a small group of young Ukrainian sailors who tried to block it from reaching the dock. Video footage from the BBC, CNN, SkyNews and others shows people on a small boat, waving Ukrainian flags and chanting "no war in Ukraine."

Güldenay Sonumut, a producer for Sky News, tweeted footage of several people sitting in a boat bobbing in the water, chanting "Go away!" at the massive yacht in front of them.

A tiny team but they made quite some waves. Say hi to the Ukraine National Sailing Youth Team who were not afraid to get on their boat and protest Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich's mega-yacht entering #Bodrum Marina in Turkey. #UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineSailingTeam pic.twitter.com/rvQMolAwuC — Güldenay Sonumut (@Guldenay007) March 22, 2022

They have been identified as students of the Odesa Children and Youth Sailing School, also known as the Optimist Sailing Club. The BBC says the team had left Ukraine before Russia invaded last month to compete in an annual competition in Turkey.

Coach Paulo Dontsov told CNN that it was the full team's decision to protest, telling the BBC that their aim was to make supporters of the war uncomfortable. He said the Turkish coast guard eventually arrived and asked the dinghy to move slightly farther away.

A Russian oligarch's superyacht is stuck in Norway because no one will sell it fuel

"We talked with them and they were polite," he added. "They said that they realized why we're doing this, but we should do it with keeping the rules of their country."

Sky News reports that the protesters were temporarily detained after the incident and that Abramovich is not believed to have been on board the yacht at the time.

Sanctions on Russia may limit the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey

The Solaris is currently docked in Bodrum, according to the tracker Marine Traffic . And a second superyacht linked to Abramovich also arrived in Turkey this week.

Citing Turkish media, ABC News reports that a yacht named Eclipse docked at a port in the resort town of Marmaris on Tuesday. Unnamed sources told Reuters that Abramovich and other wealthy Russians are looking to invest in Turkey amid mounting sanctions from Western countries.

Turkey has criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine but has said it won't introduce sanctions because it sees them as counterproductive.

This story originally appeared on the Morning Edition live blog .

A Russian oligarch whose $120 million superyacht was seized in France reportedly told the captain to sail to Turkey as fast as possible after being sanctioned

• A Russian oligarch told the captain of his yacht to sail from France to Turkey ASAP, per the WSJ.
• Igor Sechin's yacht was docked in France when he was sanctioned after Russia invaded Ukraine.
• French authorities tied the yacht down so it couldn't leave, a customs officer told The Journal.

Igor Sechin, a Russian billionaire and oligarch, told the captain of his now-seized superyacht to leave a French port and sail to Turkey as fast as possible after he was hit with sanctions, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The US and the European Union put Sechin, who is said to be a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin , on their sanctions lists shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Sechin is also known as Russia's " Darth   Vader ."

The report on Sechin's orders offers a glimpse into how the wealthiest Russians who were targeted by sanctions sought to move their yachts  and  private jets  across the world after the invasion of Ukraine in order to protect their assets.

Related stories

Eric Salles, a lead officer on the seizure operation, said in an interview with The Journal that French customs officers found out last week that the yacht was preparing to leave the French town of La Ciotat despite having repair work scheduled.

Customs officers also heard the yacht was owned by Sechin, CEO of Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, Salles added. 

The customs officers went to the yacht and questioned the captain, Salles said in the interview.

The captain told officers that he had orders to leave the French port and "sail to Turkey as quickly as possible," Salles told The Journal.

After hearing this information, French authorities tied the yacht to the quay with steel-rope slings so it couldn't leave, Salles told The Journal. Officers proceeded to check documents, further question the captain and crew, and surveil the vessel 24/7, Salles added.

Sechin's yacht was officially seized by the authorities on Wednesday night, according to a press release  tweeted by French finance minister Bruno Le Maire. The yacht's captain — still on board the vessel with other crew members — wasn't arrested, Salles told The Journal.

Sechin is among several high-profile Russian business executives who have been sanctioned by the EU, US, UK, and others because of their ties to Putin.

Gennady Timchenko, a Putin confidant, and Alexei Mordashov, reportedly the wealthiest man in Russia, had their superyachts seized by officials in Italy , The Associated Press reported on Friday.

Watch: BILL BROWDER: How sanctions on Russia hurt Putin's closest allies

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Solaris, a superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, is pictured in Yalikavak, southwest Turkey April 16, 2022. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik

Turkey Welcomes Russian Oligarch Yachts

Share this article, related news, us seeking to auction russian oligarch’s yacht costing $7 million a year to maintain, ex-google ceo scraps $67.6 million purchase of abandoned superyacht, abandoned russian superyacht to be auctioned after sanctions lifted, dubai boat show features electric sailboat, $318 million superyacht, russian oligarch yacht agents indicted by us grand jury.

by Yoruk Isik (Reuters) A yacht linked to Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska arrived in a bay near the southwestern Turkish resort of Gocek on Saturday, as more Russian billionaires head for Turkey to flee Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Deripaska, founder of Russian aluminum giant Rusal RUAL.MM, has been sanctioned by the United States, European Union and Britain. He has previously called for peace.

A Reuters witness saw the 73-meter (239.5 foot) yacht Clio arrive off the coast of Gocek in the Aegean coastal province of Mugla on Saturday. The Cayman Islands-flagged vessel remains in a bay off Gocek.

The arrival of Clio in Turkish waters comes after two superyachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who made a surprise appearance at Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul this month, docked in Turkish ports.

Oleg Deripaska's Yacht #CLIO changed location. Destination: Gocek, Turkey Status: Underway using Engine Current speed: 10.4kn https://t.co/UCPebIg4qt #StandWithUkraine #Oligarchs #yacht #UkraineRussiaWar pic.twitter.com/DnsYFKLGrY — Oligarch Yachts & Jets (@OligarchTracker) April 14, 2022

World governments are seeking to isolate President Vladimir Putin and his allies over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a “special military operation.”

NATO member Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, has good ties with both and mediates in the conflict. It has supported Kyiv, but also opposed sanctions on Moscow, including measures against Russian billionaires.

Ankara relies heavily on Russian energy imports and tourists and has emerged as a safe haven for Russians fleeing sanctions, and many have invested in Turkish property.

Also read: DOJ’s KleptoCapture Needs Mariners To Upkeep Oligarch Superyachts

On Friday, a Ukrainian diplomat said Ukraine is working with Turkey for more support and understands – though it is not happy with – the reality of Ankara’s parallel ties to Moscow.

Also Read: All You Need To Know About Russian Yacht Arrests

(Reporting by Yoruk Isik; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; editing by David Evans)

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Amadea, a superyacht, docked at the Port of Everett on Monday, April 29, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

How did a Russian oligarch’s seized superyacht end up in Everett?

Worth more than $300 million, the Amadea could soon be up for sale. But first, it came to Everett on Monday.

• Monday, April 29, 2024 1:44pm
• Local News Everett

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Dutch auction house to sell off pro-Russian oligarch's superyacht

Dutch auction house Troowtwijk Auctions will put a superyacht belonging to pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk under the hammer. The funds raised from the sale of the Royal Romance will go toward replenishing Ukraine’s budget, said the Ukrainian government agency, Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).

The 92.5-meter-long yacht has five stories and a swimming pool on board. It was seized in Croatia in March 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, and possession was recently transferred to Ukraine. The country chose Troostwijk as the most suitable auction house to sell the yacht.

Viktor Medvedchuk is a businessman and politician placed on the United States sanctions list in 2014 for his role in the annexation of Crimea, NOS reported . According to the U.S. authorities, he is a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Czech Republic also accused Medvedchuk of a Russian disinformation campaign involving paying off European politicians via a website based in Prague used to spread Russian propaganda.

According to ARMA, the Royal Romance is the first sanctioned asset seized outside Ukraine to be auctioned. Olena Duma of ARMA spoke of a “big victory.”

A Croatian judge approved the Royal Romance’s transfer to Ukraine. The country handed the ship over with the message, “Whoever buys Medvedchuk’s yacht will deal a political blow to the Putin regime and get a place on the pages of world history.”

Grocery delivery app Getir to leave the UK with 1,500 jobs at risk

Posted: April 30, 2024 | Last updated: April 30, 2024

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