After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several superyachts associated with Russian oligarchs disappeared from international maritime monitoring systems. However, satellite images and photos shared on social media revealed their hiding places.
Russian oligarchs were subject to international sanctions after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Since then, their yacht has “mysteriously” disappeared from their tracking system.
This disappearance violates the UN Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which states that large ships’ Automatic Identification System (AIS) must be turned on unless there is a risk to the ship and crew, as in pirate attacks, for example. .
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The whereabouts of some of the superyachts is unknown, but the BBC used public satellite imagery and social media to track all four of them.
“Historically, these yachts have always signaled, it’s unusual not to get a signal for this long,” says an analyst at maritime data provider VesselsValue.
Three of the yachts transmitted position data every day, including in port this year, until they came to a sudden stop. The two yachts traveled more than a thousand km without being tracked by AIS.
In March and April, when the US, EU and UK began seizing multi-million dollar superyachts tied to Russian magnates (they rarely appear as registered owners), these ships seemed safe.
Know where they are now.
Galactica Super Nova linked to oil billionaire Vagit Alekperov
The 70-metre superyacht can accommodate 12 guests in six luxury suites and features a six-metre glass-bottomed pool, waterfall and helipad.
The US$80 million (R$420 million) yacht registered its final position on 2 March while off the coast of Montenegro. His journey began on February 26 – two days after the invasion of Ukraine – in Barcelona, in northern Spain.
At this point, neither the superyacht nor Alekperov, the founder of Russia’s largest oil company Lukoil, were exposed to international sanctions. But Spanish authorities later confiscated several Russian superyachts as the list of oligarchs approved due to their ties to President Vladimir Putin grew.
Alekperov was endorsed by Britain and Australia in April and resigned as chairman of Lukoil shortly thereafter. Canada also included him on the sanctioned list.
From Montenegro, Galactica Super Nova sailed 1,500 km southeast without sending an AIS signal. Instagram posts show him at the Port Azure marina in Göcek, Turkey, on May 9.
Since Turkey has not cooperated in international sanctions against Moscow, there does not appear to be any danger of the yacht being seized.
“Overall, Turkey has more yachts than before due to sanctions against Russian oligarchs,” a source close to Turkey’s luxury yacht market told the BBC.
“Both yachts [ex-proprietário do time de futebol Chelsea, Roman] Abramovich has been here for a long time. And they’ll probably stay longer as they have nowhere else to go.”
Quantum Blue linked to retail oligarch Sergey Galitsky
Quantum Blue is even bigger than Galactica Super Nova and has traveled more than 1700 km since the AIS system stopped sending signals.
It is worth approximately US$250 million (about R$1.3 billion), is 104 meters long and has a crew of 40, as well as a cinema, beauty parlor and helipad.
Although Galitsky was not subject to sanctions, the ship was temporarily banned from leaving the port of Monaco in March. When he was released, he crossed the Mediterranean and entered the Suez Canal on March 16.
While crossing the Arabian Peninsula, the tracking system stopped sending signals on March 22, not far from the Yemen-Oman border.
Its current location was revealed by a contributor to the Gibraltar Yachting Facebook page.
The source, who did not want to be named because he works in the maritime industry, said he was on vacation in Dubai and went to Port Rashid to photograph a superyacht belonging to the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. Arap emirates.
The source said he was prevented from approaching the pier by security.
“He said to me, ‘No picture, no picture.’ I couldn’t even get close.”
But as he climbed onto the upper deck of the nearby cruise ship QE2 – now a floating hotel and tourist attraction – he was surprised to see not only the Sheikh’s ship, but also Quantum Blue and another Russian superyacht, Madame Gu, moored on board. metal magnate Andrey Skoch was also the target of sanctions.
When asked by the BBC if he thought Quantum Blue’s AIS monitoring system was intentionally turned off, the source said, “Absolutely.”
“Almost all of these Russian yachts have AIS turned off. They basically turn off AIS just before they enter port to hide.”
Prior to that, Quantum Blue was transmitting the AIS signal even when stationary.
Public satellite photos taken by the European Space Agency show Quantum Blue arriving and staying in Dubai from March 14-29.
Even if Galitsky is subject to future sanctions, Dubai does not have a property seizure agreement with the US, UK or EU.
The oligarch was mentioned by RT, Forbes, Financial Times and other publications as the owner of the superyacht.
Clio is linked to billionaire industrialist Oleg Deripaska
The $65 million, 73-foot superyacht has gone farther than any Russian ship that has disappeared from radar.
Clio left Galle, Sri Lanka on 10 February for the Maldives. From there she traveled northwest towards the Gulf before returning to the archipelago.
After that he moved to the Red Sea, passed through the Suez Canal and headed north. The AIS system stopped transmission on April 18 after crossing the Bosphorus into the Black Sea.
He then traveled about 900 km to the Russian port of Adler. Satellite images show that the ship arrived on April 22 and is still there. It also appeared on posts in the Telegram app.
A spokesperson for Deripaska, an industrialist with an estimated net worth of US$3.5 billion, said he does not own Clio. The International Maritime Organization lists Waleforce as owner and a British yacht management company as its point of contact.
That company told the BBC it had no contact with the Clio when it stopped transmitting the AIS signal.
Deripaska has been sanctioned by the US, UK, EU and Australia for alleged ties to President Putin.
His spokesman told the BBC that the sanctions were “highly misguided and supported by baseless and absurd accusations. Deripaska has never been involved in politics and has not benefited from this or any other military conflict”.
Zarif linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin
The 82-meter Graceful departed from Hamburg, where it was repaired, on February 7, and set out for the Russian territory of Kaliningrad.
Under the UN Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, ships can turn off their AIS systems while at berth, but Graceful’s signals were lost during its final approach to Kaliningrad.
Photos on Russian social media site Odnoklassniki and the Telegram app initially showed Graceful on the Pregolia River.
After that, the ship moved to a dry dock belonging to the Yantar shipyard. Satellite images from the European Space Agency show that the superyacht made this move on March 16 and is still there now.
A spokesman for President Putin told the BBC: “We don’t know anything about the yacht in question. We can say with certainty that Putin has no connection with this or any other yacht.”
But Graceful was associated with the Russian leader in a statement by the U.S. Treasury that it was added to the list of sanctioned assets. According to the US government, Putin “made multiple trips” on the superyacht.
Graceful’s registered owner with the International Maritime Organization is a company called JSC Argument, which is linked to an expanding rural property on the Black Sea coast known as “Putin’s Palace”, according to a study by the BBC’s Russian service.
The BBC reached out to Vagit Alekperov and Sergey Galitsky for comment, but received no response.
– This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-61923918.
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source: Noticias
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