West against the yachts of the oligarchs: While Russian billionaires are trying to move their giant yachts to a shelter in the Maldives due to sanctions, at least one yacht has already been foreclosed on. According to a Forbes report, German authorities seized a huge $ 600 million yacht belonging to oligarch Elishar Osmanov at a shipyard in Hamburg.
Osmanov is on the list of billionaires that the EU is expected to impose sanctions on following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the report, based on three sources in the shipping industry, the yacht Dilbar, which is 156 meters long and is considered the largest in the world of its kind, was taken on Wednesday by the Germans.
An adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, Anton Gershenko, responded to a report on his telegram channel, writing: “The yacht needs to be sent to Ukraine to be converted into a missile ship.” Osmanov himself did not respond, and the Germans refused to comment.
Osmanov bought Dilbar in 2016 for $ 600 million from German company Lorsen, which built it specifically for him for 52 months. The company called it “one of the most complex and challenging yachts ever built.” At launch, company chairman Peter Larsen said: “Diblar has the most advanced super-yacht safety technology in the world. But the things that are written about it including an anti-aircraft missile system are nonsense.
The crew of the giant yacht includes 96 people, and has 12 suites for 24 passengers. It features the largest pool ever installed on a yacht, as well as two helicopter landing sites, a sauna, a beauty salon and a gym.
Ship tracking data showed that at least five giant yachts owned by Russian oligarchs are now moored in the Maldives, or sailing there. The reason: The island nation in the Indian Ocean does not have an extradition agreement with the United States.
The yacht Clio, owned by Oleg Dripska – the founder of the aluminum giant Russell on which the Americans imposed sanctions in 2018 – docked in the Maldives capital from yesterday. Another giant yacht, the Titan owned by Alexander Abramov – one of the founders of steel producer Arbaz – arrived on 28 February.
Three more yachts owned by Russian billionaires were seen sailing to the Maldives yesterday. Among other things, this is a 88-meter-long nirvana yacht owned by the richest man in Russia, Vladimir Putin. Most of these ships were seen moored in ports in the Middle East earlier this year.
On Sunday, the White House announced that “this week we will hold a trans-Atlantic international task force to identify, capture and freeze the assets of the Russian companies that have been sanctioned and the oligarchs – their yachts, estates and any other illegal profits”.
Washington imposed sanctions on Deripaska and other senior Russian officials in 2018 over their ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin – following alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 US election, an involvement Moscow denies.