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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

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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.

Clio, a yacht linked to Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, is pictured in Gocek Bay off southwestern Turkey on April 16, 2022 [Yoruk Isik/Reuters]

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.

Solaris, a super yacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, in Yalikavak, southwest Turkey on April 16, 2022. [Yoruk Isik/Reuters]

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.

Watch CBS News

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.

FILE PHOTO: Russian billionaire and owner of Chelsea football club Roman Abramovich arrives at a division of the High Court in central London

"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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Why Turkey Could Become The Next Haven For Russian Oligarchs Fleeing Sanctions

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Roman Abramovich's Eclipse yacht in Marmaris, Turkey on March 22.

As Western sanctions started to rain down on Russian oligarchs after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, many took their yachts out of the European Union and British territories to escape the risk of seizure. Some went to Dubai , while others fled to the Maldives. Now, the most popular destination for oligarch-owned yachts is Turkey.

At least eight yachts owned by Russian oligarchs—including Roman Abramovich ’s $438 million, 533-foot Eclipse and $474 million, 458-foot Solaris —are currently moored in Turkish ports or recently departed. The ships now in Turkey are worth a collective $1.1 billion, according to yacht valuation experts VesselsValue.

The country is popular among oligarchs for reasons that go beyond its sunny climate and long Mediterranean coastline: despite being a NATO member, Turkey has rejected Western sanctions and maintained close ties with Russia, even hosting peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in late March.

“Sanctions imposed by the European countries and the U.S. triggered billionaires to look for alternative investment markets,” says Zeynep Fıratoğlu, the communications manager at Space, an Istanbul-based luxury real estate firm. “Turkey stood out as a viable option with its geographical location, advanced markets and banking system, as well as its neutral stand between Russia and Ukraine.”

According to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute , home sales to non-Turkish buyers increased by 55% in February 2022 on a year-over-year basis. Sales to Russian buyers grew by 96%, while sales to Ukrainians rose by 85%. The boom continued in March, with foreigners buying 21% more homes than in February. “Since the invasion of Ukraine, we started seeing a significant increase in demand from Russian buyers,” says Fıratoğlu.

Turkey’s main calling card for Russians is its citizenship by investment scheme , which provides a Turkish passport within three to four months to anyone investing at least $250,000 in real estate or $500,000 in government bonds, companies, investment funds or a local bank account. That’s pocket change for the likes of Russian oligarchs, making Turkey an attractive alternative for those seeking a second passport. And while several other countries in Europe also have so-called “golden passport” schemes that offer similar benefits, those avenues may soon be closed off. Cyprus, long a popular tax haven for Russians, is cracking down on oligarchs: Forbes found that 15 Russian billionaires also have Cypriot citizenship, but the island country has already revoked the passports of eight oligarchs including Putin ally Oleg Deripaska .

According to Şerif Nadi Varlı, the lead real estate broker at Istanbul-based Vartur Real Estate, Russian billionaires are in the market less for luxury homes and more for major investments that could earn them a profit—as well as a Turkish passport. "Their yachts are here, they're spending time here,” he says.

Nadi Varlı was recently contacted by a client representing a Russian buyer looking to spend $100 million on a hotel on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. “The hotels we are offering them are on the seaside, from Antalya to Bodrum,” he says. “All Russian clients are now trying to get Turkish citizenship by investment.”

Coastal cities such as Bodrum, Fethiye and Marmaris are the most likely destinations for Russian oligarchs seeking to invest in Turkish real estate. Four of the eight oligarch-owned yachts tracked by Forbes in Turkey are moored in the area: Abramovich’s Eclipse and Alexander Nesis ’ $110 million Romea are anchored in the town of Göcek near Fethiye; Andrei Molchanov ’s $110 million Aurora is in Marmaris; and Abramovich’s Solaris is in Yalıkavak, near Bodrum. Oleg Deripaska’s $58 million Clio departed Göcek on April 16, while Iskander Makhmudov ’s $55 million Predator left the port of Kuşadası further north a month earlier. Elsewhere in Turkey, Vagit Alekperov’s $8 million Space is in the marina of Tuzla in Istanbul, while Arkady Rotenberg ’s $38 million Rahil was last seen in Tuzla before departing on April 27 for the Russian resort town of Sochi.

Abramovich, the most high-profile oligarch with yachts in Turkey, was spotted at the peace talks in Istanbul on March 29. He has a long history in the country: Nadi Varlı told Forbes that his firm sold four apartments in Bodrum to members of Abramovich’s family in 2007, but it’s unclear if they still own them. One of his jets—a Gulfstream G650 registered in Luxembourg with tail number LX-RAY—flew from Israel to Istanbul on March 14 and departed for Moscow the next day.

Beyond investments in real estate, Russians have also been opening companies in Turkey. Russians established a record 64 companies in Turkey in March, nearly quadruple the amount in February—and that number is expected to rise once data from April is released, according to Eray Sayin, an associate at Istanbul-based law firm Sayin Law & Consulting. It takes five days to set up a company and the process only costs about $3,400.

"After sanctions were imposed on Russia, there was an explosion in the number of companies founded by [Russian] citizens in Turkey," says Sayin. His firm has received 25 requests from Russian clients seeking to open a company in Turkey over the past 25 days.

Most of those firms are created with the purpose of investing in real estate, but some are also interested in the energy industry, particularly renewables and oil & gas. It’s likely that at least some Russian oligarchs and billionaires are opening companies in Turkey, according to Sayin, but it’s unclear how many. If Western sanctions related to the war in Ukraine continue for months, he expects Russian firms in other industries—including fertilizers, one of Russia’s key exports—to build factories and invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Turkey.

"There are a lot of investors from the energy industry, but at this stage they're only making small investments because everything is uncertain,” says Sayin. “But it's going to increase.”

Still, Turkish banks are wary of falling afoul of sanctions and require paperwork that proves the Russian individual or company opening a bank account hasn’t been sanctioned. And the high demand for citizenship for investment may also drive up the cost of the scheme: the Turkish government is planning to increase the minimum investment in real estate to $400,000 from $250,000.

Turkey and Russia have deep economic ties that go beyond the oligarch connection. Turkey is Russia’s fifth-largest export market, and Russia is Turkey’s tenth-largest. Vladimir Putin and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have also grown closer in recent years, after a period of rocky relations when the two powers backed opposite sides of the Syrian civil war. Tensions reached a flashpoint after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet over its airspace in November 2015, leading to trade restrictions and a suspension of visa-free travel. But the countries normalized relations in 2016, and Putin and Erdoğan have maintained contact throughout the war in Ukraine: the last phone call between the two leaders was on April 26.

As long as Western sanctions are in place and Turkey refuses to impose any of its own, Russian oligarchs are expected to continue investing in the country. That will be easier to do with a Turkish passport in hand and a locally registered company.

“In the short-term, we expect Russian individuals to obtain Turkish citizenship by purchasing a property in Turkey in order to have an alternative to their existing Russian passport,” says Fıratoğlu. “In the mid- to long-term, we can expect billionaire Russians to move their business[es] and wealth to Istanbul and have their families live either in Turkey or in other European countries.”

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Russian superyachts find safe haven in Turkey, raising concerns in Washington

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.

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.

Three days later, 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 US 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 US sanctions against Russia.

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

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.

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.

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 spokesperson 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 spokesperson 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 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 US 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 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 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?”

In August, the Eclipse, one of the yachts linked to Abramovich, was anchored in the middle of the bay off Göcek, a 3 1/2-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.

Port Azure, the Göcek marina hosting the Flying Fox, was built over the port of a state-owned paper factory where 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.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .

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Second Abramovich superyacht docks in sanctions-free Turkey

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By Yoruk Isik and Orhan Coskun

MARMARIS, Turkey (Reuters) -A second superyacht linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich docked in a Turkish resort on Tuesday and sources familiar with the discussions said he and other wealthy Russians were looking to invest in Turkey given sanctions elsewhere.

Western governments have targeted Abramovich and several other Russian oligarchs with sanctions as they seek to isolate President Vladimir Putin and his allies over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

While strongly criticising the invasion, Turkey has said it opposes sanctions imposed by its NATO allies on principle. That could set it up as a possible safe haven for Russians seeking to make investments and preserve assets.

Eclipse, which is one of the world's biggest yachts at 162.5 metres (533 feet), docked in the resort of Marmaris in southwest Turkey after skirting Greek islands, according to a Reuters witness and tracking data. It sails under a Bermuda flag.

The vessel is reported to have two helipads, nine decks, a swimming pool and built-in missile defences.

Solaris, another superyacht linked to Abramovich, arrived a day earlier in the resort of Bodrum some 80 km (50 miles) away, after having also avoided the waters of European Union countries that have sanctioned the oligarchs.

They are among a string of yachts owned by Abramovich, according to reports in luxury goods publications SuperYachtFan, SuperYacht and Forbes.

Abramovich, the owner of English football club Chelsea, was in Istanbul briefly last week, according to flight tracking data and people familiar with the travels. There was no indication he was aboard either yacht.

A source in Ankara with knowledge of recent conversations with Abramovich said he and other wealthy Russians were looking to invest in Turkey given the sanctions imposed elsewhere.

"He wants to do some work and may buy some assets," the source said, adding that the oligarch already had some assets in Turkey. The source did not give details.

Another source in Ankara said Turkey was not currently considering joining sanctions action and expected wealthy Russians to purchases assets and make investments.

"We act sensitively on issues such as bringing the oligarchs' money to Turkey," the person said.

A spokesperson for Abramovich did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The foreign and interior ministries did not immediately comment on whether Western governments had requested that Turkey seize sanctioned assets. Last week, the banking regulator told Reuters it was monitoring sanctions applied on Russia but had not instructed banks to limit citizens of any country.

BOAT PROTESTERS

A small group of people on a motor boat protested in front of Solaris as it docked, holding Ukrainian flags emblazoned with the words "no war", footage shared by the expat association "Ukrainians in Bodrum" showed.

With the arrival of Eclipse and Solaris, Abramovich has for now stationed upwards of $1.2 billion of his fortune in Turkey, with each vessel estimated to be worth $600 million or more. Russian-linked yachts are stuck in several countries including Italy, Spain and Germany.

Sanctions are delicate for Turkey, which has close trade and diplomatic links with both Russia and Ukraine. Critics of President Tayyip Erdogan's government have said the balancing act could leave it vulnerable internationally.

"The anchoring in Turkish marinas of yachts embargoed in European countries may leave Turkey in a difficult situation in the international arena," Utku Cakirozer, an MP from the main opposition CHP party, told Reuters.

After meeting Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he supported Turkey's role in maintaining dialogue with both Ukraine and Russia.

"Turkey is doing everything that it can do. It is one of the few open lines we have with both," he told a news conference.

"We would very much favour for Turkey to implement all the sanctions but I think we also have to be happy with the fact that Turkey is playing its diplomatic role."

Russia calls its invasion a "special military operation" aimed at disarming Ukraine and removing what it says are dangerous nationalists in government. Ukraine and Western allies say that is a false pretext for an unprovoked war.

Turkey has sought to mediate a ceasefire and peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

The 140-metre (460-foot) Solaris, which also sails under a Bermuda flag, remained moored in Bodrum on Tuesday, a week after it left Montenegro's Adriatic resort town of Tivat.

(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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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

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 .

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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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Sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's $600 million superyacht is cruising off Turkey's coast after 8 days' sailing without a destination

Roman Abramovich's yacht was off the coast of Turkey on Monday, ship-tracking data shows.
His $600 million yacht, Solaris, is "scenic cruising" without a port destination, per MarineTraffic.
It might be trying to confuse people about its final destination, a MarineTraffic spokesperson said.

A luxury superyacht owned by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich that has been sailing without a destination for more than a week updated its status for the first time since leaving port, suggesting it has no immediate intention of docking, ship-tracking data shows.

Solaris, a 140-feet vessel worth $600 million , was off the southwestern coast of Turkey and heading west, according to the tracking website MarineTraffic . On Monday, the website showed that the vessel's status changed to "scenic cruising" from "awaiting orders," the status it had shown since leaving Tivat, Montenegro, on March 13.

Georgios Hatzimanolis, a spokesperson for MarineTraffic, told Insider that though yachts and ships can change their status whenever they want, "most likely in this instance" Solaris is "using the status to confuse people from where its final destination is."

Why the U.S. put a $1 million bounty on a Russian yacht’s alleged manager

On Sept. 3, 2020, the staff of a $90 million yacht placed an order with a U.S. company for a set of luxury bathrobes that came to $2,624.35.

For roughly two years before that, according to federal prosecutors, the yacht’s management had been falsely claiming it was working for a boat named “Fanta.” But the luxury bathrobes came embroidered with a monogram that, prosecutors said, revealed the yacht’s true identity: “Tango.”

That was a problem, officials say in court papers, because Tango was owned by a Russian billionaire under U.S. sanctions, and doing business on his behalf violated federal law.

Late last month, U.S. authorities unveiled a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and or conviction of the man they say was running the yacht staff and orchestrated the deception with the robes — Vladislav Osipov, 52, a Swiss-based businessman from Russia. In a new indictment , federal prosecutors say Osipov misled U.S. banks and companies into doing business with the Tango yacht despite the sanctions on the Russian owner, whom the Justice Department has identified as billionaire Viktor Vekselberg .

Osipov has denied the allegations. Osipov’s attorney has said that the government has failed to demonstrate that Vekselberg owned the yacht, and that its management was therefore not a sanctions violation.

The reward offer for Osipov reflects the latest stage in the evolution of the West’s broader financial war against Russia two years into the war in Ukraine, as the United States and its allies increasingly target intermediaries accused of enabling Russian oligarchs to circumvent sanctions.

Many Russians close to President Vladimir Putin have been under sanctions dating to 2014, when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and sent proxy forces into that country’s eastern Donbas region. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, President Biden vowed to deal a “crushing blow” with a barrage of new sanctions on financial institutions, industries, business executives and others tied to the Kremlin. But roughly two years later, Russia’s economy has proved surprisingly resilient after the nation poured tens of billions of dollars into ramping up its military industry. Moscow has also worked around the sanctions, finding new third parties to supply it with critical military and industrial hardware, as well as countries beyond Europe to buy its oil.

Now, the West is trying to increase the reach of its sanctions by digging deeper into Russian supply chains. Late last month, the Treasury Department announced more than 500 new sanctions targeting Russia , primarily on military and industrial suppliers. The Justice Department also announced charges against two U.S.-based “facilitators” of a Russian state banker who is under sanction, as well as the guilty plea of a dual national based in Atlanta who was accused of laundering $150 million through bank accounts and shell companies on behalf of Russian clients.

Prioritizing criminal charges against — and the arrests of — Western employees of Russia’s elites represents a new escalation of the U.S. financial war against Putin, experts say. One Moscow businessman, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said many influential Russians are concerned about the arrest of two associates of Andrey Kostin, the head of VTB, Russia’s second-biggest state bank. These associates, Vadim Wolfson and Gannon Bond, were charged with helping Kostin evade sanctions by maintaining a $12 million property in Aspen, Colo., for Kostin’s benefit while concealing his ownership. Kostin has said that the charges of sanctions evasion against him are “unfounded” and that he has not violated any laws . Bond has pleaded not guilty; Wolfson hasn’t made an initial court appearance yet.

Wolfson, also known as Vadim Belyaev, had been a Russian billionaire until the Russian government took over his bank in 2017. Bond, 49, is a U.S. citizen from Edgewater, N.J. For all Russians living abroad and working with people in Russia, the threat of criminal charges is a much more worrying prospect than the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department last month against hundreds of individuals and entities, the businessman said, in part because sanctions are far easier to dodge than criminal charges.

“What you have seen through today’s public announcements are our efforts at really targeting the facilitators who possess the requisite skill set, access, connections that allow the Russian war machine [and] the Russian elites to continually have access to Western services and Western goods,” David Lim, co-director of the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force, which is tasked with enforcing U.S. sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, told reporters last month.

Thad McBride, an international trade partner at the law firm Bass Berry & Sims, said the crackdown on intermediaries reflected the natural evolution of the U.S. sanctions campaign in response to Russian adjustments.

“It seems to me they have gone through a comprehensive list of the oligarchs, and you can debate whether or not it’s had a meaningful impact on the Russian war effort,” McBride said. “Because they’re getting smarter about who’s who, they’re finding other people who play meaningful roles in these transactions, even though they’re not showing up in the headlines.”

The charges against Osipov related to his alleged management of the Tango yacht illustrate the mounting potential consequences for people in Europe and the United States who attempt to do business with Russians targeted by Western allies, as well as the opaque structures allegedly employed by those seeking to evade sanctions.

With a net worth estimated by Forbes in 2021 at $9 billion, Vekselberg, 66, has long drawn scrutiny from the West — and sought to safeguard his wealth. He made his initial fortune in aluminum and oil in Russia’s privatization of the 1990s and then expanded into industrial and financial assets in Europe, the United States and Africa, with Putin’s blessing. In addition to the yacht, federal prosecutors say, Vekselberg acquired $75 million worth of properties, including apartments on New York’s Park Avenue and an estate in the Long Island town of Southampton.

Vekselberg, who declined to comment for this article, has not been criminally charged by the Justice Department. In a 2019 interview with the Financial Times, he denounced the sanctions as arbitrary and harmful for international business, saying he had been targeted just because he was Russian and rich and knows Putin.

In April 2018, the Treasury Department under the Trump administration sanctioned Vekselberg and six other Russian oligarchs as part of broader financial penalties over the Kremlin’s invasion of Crimea, support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Vekselberg was also targeted for his work for the Kremlin as chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation, an attempt to create Russia’s version of the Silicon Valley — evidence that appeared to undermine the Russian businessman’s claims that he operated independently of the Kremlin.

But with Vekselberg’s payments monitored by U.S. banks, according to the federal indictment , Osipov used shell companies and intermediaries to avert the bite of sanctions. Vekselberg kept other major assets out of the reach of U.S. authorities by making use of the Treasury Department’s 50 percent ownership rule, which stipulates that it is illegal to transact with firms only if an owner under sanction controls more than 50 percent of the business.

For example, a month after Treasury imposed sanctions on Vekselberg in April 2018, his Renova Innovation Technologies sold its 48.5 percent stake in Swiss engineering giant Sulzer to Tiwel Holding AG, a group that is nevertheless still “beneficially owned” — meaning, owned in practice — by Vekselberg through Columbus Trust, a Cayman Islands trust, according to Sulzer’s corporate filing. Vekselberg’s longtime right-hand man at Renova, Alexei Moskov, replaced one of Vekselberg’s direct representatives on the board. Moskov told The Washington Post that he stepped down from all his executive positions at Renova Group in 2018 after U.S. sanctions were first imposed and from that moment ceased to be Vekselberg’s employee.

The attempts to circumvent the sanctions appear to have found some success in the U.S. legal system. Columbus Nova, a U.S.-based asset management fund controlling more than $100 million in assets in the U.S. financial and tech industry, is run by Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater. The firm battled for more than two years to lift a freeze on Columbus Nova’s assets, imposed by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control because of the sanctions on Vekselberg, and won, reaching a settlement agreement with the Treasury Department. After renaming itself Sparrow Capital LLC, Columbus Nova successfully argued that Intrater — not Vekselberg — owns the fund. Intrater argued that the company was 100 percent owned by U.S. citizens and that no individual or entity under sanction held any interest in it. Intrater said Columbus Nova had earned fees for managing investment funds owned by Renova. He said he had repeatedly told Treasury he would not distribute any funds to Vekselberg.

Now Osipov, the alleged manager of Vekselberg’s $90 million yacht, is attempting a similar argument as U.S. authorities seek his arrest on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and violations of sanctions law.

The federal indictment states that the Tango was owned by a shell corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands that was in turn owned by several other companies. The Virgin Islands shell company, authorities say, was controlled by Osipov, who also served in senior roles for multiple companies controlled by Vekselberg. U.S. officials also say Vekselberg ultimately controlled the other companies that owned the Virgin Islands shell company.

According to the indictment, a Tango official instructed a boat management company in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to use a false name for the yacht — “Fanta” — to disguise its true identity from U.S. financial institutions and firms, which try to avoid doing business with an entity or person under sanction.

Working at Osipov’s direction, according to the indictment, employees for Tango bought more than $8,000 worth of goods for the yacht that were unwittingly but illegally processed by U.S. firms and U.S. financial institutions, including navigation software, leather basket magazine holders provided by a bespoke silversmith, and web and computing services. The management company running Tango, run by Osipov, also paid invoices worth more than $180,000 to a U.S. internet service provider, federal prosecutors say.

The Tango was seized by the FBI and Spanish authorities in the Mediterranean not long after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and Osipov was first indicted last year. The owner of the Spanish yacht management company hired by Osipov, Richard Masters, 52, of Britain, was criminally charged last year by federal prosecutors with conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal sanctions law. A request for comment sent to Masters’ firm was not returned.

But in recent court documents, Osipov’s attorney argues that the yacht was not more than 50 percent owned by Vekselberg, and that the government hasn’t demonstrated it was. Barry J. Pollack, an attorney at Harris, St. Laurent and Wechsler, also says the government never warned Osipov of its novel and “unconstitutional” application of federal sanctions law.

“The government points to no precedent that supports its extraordinary interpretation and cites no authority that allows the traditional rules of statutory construction to be turned on their head,” Pollack wrote in a defense filing. The filing adds: “[Osipov] is not a fugitive because he did not engage in any of the allegedly criminal conduct while in the United States, has never resided in the United States, did not flee from the United States, and has not concealed himself.”

Still, the State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program has said it will provide up to $1 million for information leading to Osipov’s arrest, warning that he may visit Herrliberg, Switzerland; Majorca, Spain; or Moscow.

The case demonstrates the extent of the U.S. commitment to tighten the screws on those seen as aiding Russian elites, even if they themselves are not closely tied to the Kremlin.

“When DOJ levels legal action against an individual or entity, they have quite a bit of evidence, especially because the threshold to press charges for money-laundering and sanctions evasion is so high,” said Kim Donovan, director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. “We’ve had quite a bit of experience targeting Russia directly, and what you’re starting to see is the U.S. go after the facilitators enabling sanctions evasion. That’s where the U.S. is focusing its efforts right now.”

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March 23, 2022 12:20 PM

Rachel Treisman

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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.