News just broke that Italy has joined Germany and France’s crusade against superyachts, with Russian billionaire businessman Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov’s €65m “Lady M Yacht” being seized in Imperia (Liguria) – a crescent-shaped region in northern Italy – over the weekend in compliance with the recent EU sanctions.
Previous to this, The Dilbar, a 512-foot, $600 million yacht owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, being kept in Germany, had work being done on it halted in the wake of the sanctions, and French authorities seized a massive yacht they say is linked to Igor Sechin, a Russian billionaire who previously served as Russia’s deputy Prime Minister (and who is apparently known in Russian business circles as “Darth Vader”), and who is CEO of state oil company Rosneft.
In light of all these seizures (and amidst the rumours that The Flying Fox belongs to Jeff Bezos, when it really doesn’t), we thought we’d come up with a list of which superyachts belong to which Russian billionaire. Get ready to feast your eyes.
Quite the fleet nowhttps://t.co/XnQAwLODzJ
— Joanna Pegum💙 #StandWithUkraine. Wear a Mask (@londoner_007) March 5, 2022
Lady M Yacht
Owned By: Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov
Price: $96 million AUD, or $75 million AUD (depending on which source you believe)
Russian billionaire Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov owns the “Lady M Yacht” which was recently reportedly seized in Northern Italy. A 56 year old Russian billionaire businessman, Mordaschov is Russia’s richest man (even, apparantly, richer than Putin) and he has investments ranging from London-listed travel giant Tui to the ‘personal bank’ of senior Russian officials (according to The Guardian). He is also the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia’s biggest steel and mining company.
The Lady M Yacht is 65 metres long, fits 12 guests in 6 cabins, 14 crew in 7 cabins, was built in 2013 by Palmer Johnson and was designed by Nuvolari Lenard. The Lady M Yacht has a top speed of 28 knots and a cruising speed of 16 knots. It has an annual running cost of $4-5 million USD ($5-6 million AUD). Lady M Yacht has a Norwegian-built Windy Dubois SR52 tender, called Little M, and naturally, a helipad.
Lady M Yacht was probably named after Mordaschov’s second wife. Media advisor to Italy’s Prime Minister, Ferdinando Giugliano, has said Lady M Yacht is 65 million euros ($96,369,809 AUD). Superyacht Fan however says its price is $55 million USD (37,103,056 euros), which equates to $75,019,285 AUD.
Lurssen Yacht Nord
Owned By: Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov
Price: US$ 500 million (according to Super Yacht Fan)
This bad boy, built in 2020 (and delivered in 2021) also belongs to Russia’s richest man – Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov. The 141.6-metre Nord was designed with the intent to “cause strong emotions in every observer” via its sheer size and stunning design (by Italian design studio Nuvolari-Lenard, who gave Nord a bow design never before seen on a yacht. The Nord has an exhaust after treatment system, which hugely reduces nitrogen (by 97%) and noise.
The Dilbar
Owned by: Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov
Price: $648 million (reportedly)
The Dilbar, the world’s biggest yacht measured by interior volume, was launched in 2016 at an estimated US $648 million ($882,922,680 AUD). Five years later, its owner, Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, sent the vessel to a German shipyard for a retrofit reportedly costing another couple of hundred million dollars.
Forbes recently reported that the Dilbar had been seized in Germany, working off the information of three sources. They since issued a correction stating that the Ministry for Economy and Innovation in Hamburg says the authorities have not seized the Dilbar, but rather work on the ship has been halted.
“Three sources had told Forbes it had been seized, but a representative for Usmanov cited the statement from the ministry in Hamburg to confirm that it had not. In its statement, the ministry elaborated that the German federal customs agency is the ‘responsible enforcement authority’ and would have to issue an export waiver for the yacht to leave, and that ‘no yacht leaves port that is not allowed to do so.’”
The Dilbar is 156 metres long, houses 36 guests in 18 cabins (and 84 crew in 40 cabins), was built by Lurssen and was designed by Espen Oeino. The Dilbar has a top speed of 22.5 knots and an annual running cost of $50-80 million USD.
Amore Vero
Owned by: Igor Sechin
Price: $120 million USD
Built in 2013, with a length of 86 metres and the capacity to house 14 guests and 28 crew, Amore Vero was built by Oceanco and designed by Lobanov. It has a top speed of 18 knots and and annual running cost of $12 million.
According to the BBC, Amore Vero was seized by French authorities last Wednesday, when customs officers noticed that it was “taking steps to sail off urgently.”
“It arrived in in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat in January and had been due to stay there while being repaired until 1 April,” the BBC reports.
“It has also been reported that yachts belonging to five other Russian billionaires were heading to the Maldives, regarded as a safe home because it does not have an extradition treaty with the US,” (BBC).
Lena
Owned by: Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko
Price: €50 million euros ($74 million AUD)
Lena is owned by the founder of a Russia-based private investment group and close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko. Media advisor to Italy’s Prime Minister, Ferdinando Giugliano, has said Lena was also recently frozen by authorities.
My Solaris
Owned by: Roman Abramovich
Price: £430 million ($770 million AUD)
The owner of Chelsea football club (Abramovich is now trying to sell his shares Chelsea FC) Roman Abramovich also owns a superyacht called My Solaris. My Solaris is 137 metres long.
My Solaris has a power and energy management system that is the most powerful of its kind ever installed on a yacht, according to Superyacht Times. Roman Abramovich also owns a superyacht called the Eclipse, worth $700 million USD ($955 million AUD), Superyacht Times reports. He is reportedly not been sanctioned as of yet in the US or UK (but is still selling Chelsea in case he is).
Nirvana
Owned by: Vladimir Potanin
Price: Unknown
Vladimir Potanin is one of the richest men in Russia. He owns the Nirvana, a superyacht that can fit 12 guests and 18 crew, superyachtfan.com states.
Potanin also owns a yacht called Barbara. Potanin owns more than a third of Norilsk Nickel, a mining company, and has well as stakes in a pharmaceutical company and a ski resort.
Fortune reports: “On Wednesday [last week] he resigned as a trustee of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, according to the museum. Nirvana is apparently currently in the Maldives, a country that, probably not coincidentally doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Ocean Victory
Owned by: Viktor Rashnikov
Price: $300 million ($408 million AUD)
Russian minerals and metals magnate Viktor Rashnikov owns ‘Ocean Victory,‘ a superyacht with an outlandish six pools, an underwater observation room, an internal helicopter hangar, and a helideck. Old mate has a net worth of nearly $10 billion and is No. 195 on Forbes’ 2021 billionaires list.
Clio
Owned by: Oleg Deripaska
Price: $65 million USD ($88 million AUD)
Oleg Deripaska, who has a net worth of almost $3 billion, is the founder of the Russian aluminium group Rusal. He owns Clio, which has a crew of 21. It comes with a boat called Sputnik, with a crew of 26. According to Fortune, Deripaska has called for an end to the war in Ukraine. According to Reuters, Clio was docked in the Maldives as of last Thursday.
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