russian yacht ullapool

• Top Stories
• All Scotland
• Glasgow & West
• Edinburgh & East
• North East & Tayside
• Highlands & Islands
• Entertainment
• UK & International
• News at Six

News / Highlands & Islands

Search for missing man after capsized yacht wreckage recovered

Authorities were sent out to Strathan Bay near Lochinver following reports of debris washing ashore in the area.

Share this story

• The Highlands

Police have confirmed that a man is missing after the wreckage of a capsized yacht was recovered in the Highlands.

Authorities were sent out to Strathan Bay near Lochinver on January 5, following reports of debris washing ashore in the area.

HM Coastguard confirmed that they carried out an “extensive” maritime and shoreline search before standing down on Monday morning.

Officers have now confirmed they believe the yacht left Ullapool harbour on Wednesday, December 13, with one man on board.

Police said that concerns for the missing man are growing and that his family is aware of the situation.

Enquiries to establish the full circumstances of the incident are “ongoing”.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Enquiries are ongoing following the recovery of wreckage from a yacht in the Strathan Bay area near Lochinver.

“We were made aware of debris in the area around 12.30pm on Saturday, January 6, 2024, and police divers along with HM Coastguard and the RNLI carried out extensive searches.

“It is believed the yacht left Ullapool harbour on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, with one person, a man, on board.

“The man is missing and concerns are growing for his welfare. His family are aware.

“Anyone with information that could assist is asked to call Police Scotland on 101 , quoting incident number 1323 of Saturday, January 6, 2024.”

STV News is now on WhatsApp

Get all the latest news from around the country

Follow STV News on WhatsApp

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country

Today's Top Stories

Kate, Princess of Wales, receiving chemotherapy after cancer found following operation

King Charles leads tributes to Kate after cancer treatment announcement

Worker died after being struck on head by metal beam on hospital building site

Victims left with 'catastrophic' injuries after ship toppled in dock

Woman 'traumatised' after 'XL bully' dogs kill her chihuahua

City councillor calls to stop flying Union flag on King's birthday

CCTV images of man released after park incident involving nine-year-old boy

Popular videos.

Public consultation launched over street name linked to 'butcher' duke

Scotland's energy revolution brings fear and loathing to rural communities

Some Easter eggs at least 50% more expensive than last year

Ferry boss admits service for islanders has reached crisis point

City foodbank to close after council eviction notice

Latest in highlands & islands.

Man charged in connection with attempted murder 

Tourist killed in crash after boyfriend drove on wrong side of the road

Hundreds of homes without electricity after major power cut

Care home faces closure amid 'serious' concerns about treatment of residents

Vandals destroy four parking meters at Scots beauty spot

Man dies after vehicle crashes into car he was standing beside on A9

Cat badly injured after being shot with air weapon in 'sickening' attack 

Trending now.

Celebrity Big Brother finalists revealed as final evictee leaves

Vodafone-Three merger could lead to higher prices, watchdog warns

Bay City Rollers to mark 50 years of 'Shang A Lang' with Tartan Army gig

Man's body found in Sutherland during search for Russian sailor

Police say there are no apparent suspicious circumstances.

A man's body has been found during searches for a Russian sailor after yacht wreckage was recovered in the north west of Scotland.

Roman Titov left Ullapool on December 13th, but remains of a boat were found near Lochinver on January 6th.

Police then confirmed they were searching for a missing man on January 11th.

Officers now say a body has been discovered at a beach at Achmelvich and there are no apparent suspicious circumstances.

The man's family have been informed.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Around 3.30pm on Tuesday, 6 February, 2024, the body of a man was discovered at a beach at Achmelvich near Lochinver.

"Formal identification has yet to take place, however the family of a man reported missing from a yacht that left Ullapool on Wednesday, 13 December, 2023, have been informed.

"There are no apparent suspicious circumstances."

Two years ago we reported how Roman's sailing boat capsized in the Atlantic, but he managed to make his way back to land.

His yacht was dismasted after the stern rose above the bow and turned upside down in stormy weather near Rockall, 200 miles off the coast of Scotland.

He was swept overboard, but managed to climb back onto the boat which turned itself back up.

It took him two weeks to sail into Ullapool, where various members of the community and harbour staff helped him before he returned to Russia.

Hear all the latest news from across the North of Scotland on the hour, every hour, at MFR. Listen on FM, via our MFR app, on your DAB radio, online at MFR.co.uk, or say ‘Play MFR’ on your Smart Speaker.

Practical Boat Owner

• Digital edition

Russian sailor Roman Titov missing after yacht wreckage is washed up in Scotland

• Katy Stickland
• January 12, 2024

Russian sailor Roman Titov is missing after the wreckage of his 33ft Colin Archer-type cutter was discovered at Loch Inver in Scotland

Roman Titov's yacht, Vperyod was pitchpoled and dismasted in January 2022 off Scotland. Repairs has been made before he set off from Ullapool on 13 December 2023. Credit: Roman Titov Credit: Roman Titov

Roman Titov set out in his 33ft Colin Archer-type cutter, Vperyod from Ullapool Harbour in Scotland on 13 December 2023.

No one has heard from him since.

On 6 January 2024, wreckage from Vperyod washed up at Loch Inver, prompting a search for him by the emergency services, including HM Coastguard, the RNLI and police divers.

Roman Titov was an experienced solo sailor, and sailed the boat under jury rig to Ullaport after it was dismasted in January 2022. Credit: Roman Titov

Police Scotland, which is co-ordinating the operation, say his family are aware.

“Inquiries are ongoing following the recovery of wreckage from a yacht in the Strathan Bay area near Lochinver.

“Police divers along with HM Coastguard and the RNLI carried out extensive searches.

“It is believed the yacht left Ullapool harbour on Wednesday 13 December with one person, a man, on board.

“The man is missing and concerns are growing for his welfare. His family are aware,” said a Police Scotland spokesperson.

Roman Titov had deployed two stern drogues before the pitchpole and dismasting in January 2022. Credit: Roman Titov

Roman Titov is in his late 50s and served as a merchant navy navigating officer in the Barents Sea before working as a chief engineer at a Moscow yacht club.

He was in Scotland after Vperyod was dismasted on 1 January 2022, 200 miles off the north-west coast of Scotland.

Roman had been sailing south from Norway in a bid to qualify for the 2022 Golden Globe Race , but instead, he became caught up in one of the worst storms in recent years.

The mast of Vperyod was sheared at the partners. Credit: Roger D Taylor

The 33ft yacht pitchpoled in the storm, and Roman Titov survived as he was clipped on by his harness, although he received several blows to the face.

The mast and bowsprit were lost and there was damage both on deck and down below; he lost all power and although he had an Iridium satellite phone, he was unable to find any satellites to send a distress call.

It took him two days to bail out all the water. He had deployed two sea anchors and the rigging and mast overboard helped stabilise the yacht.

The dismasted Vperyod in Ullaport. Credit: Roger D Taylor

He then managed to clear the remains of the mast and recovered what was left of the bowsprit and genoa furling gear, breaking a rib in the process.

Roman Titov then prepared a jury rig, using his 5m spinnaker pole, and sailed for 17 days to Ullapool in Loch Broom.

He left Vperyod at the Johnson and Loftus boatyard and returned to Moscow to raise money for repairs, but weeks later the Russians invaded Ukraine and, for the next two years, Roman waited patiently to return to his yacht, saving money where he could.

He arrived back in Scotland in November 2023 and, with the help of the Johnson and Loftus boatyard, patched up Vperyod which he intended to sail to Istanbul to make further repairs.

Continues below…

Coping with a dismasting & rig checks

Faced with a sudden dismasting in 40-knot gusts, Rupert Holmes explains how he and his crew saved his boat, and…

Snap, shackle and drop: coping with a dismasted sailing yacht

Steve Hodges and his fiancée Sam McClements’ second attempt at the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean passage is scuppered by a dismasted…

Sailing in storms and squalls

One crew's brisk breeze and exciting sail can be another's gale, even if sailing similar boats. So what makes the…

7 Storm Jibs on test

We test 7 storm jibs, including wrap around and sleeved sails, to find out the best options for your boat

The boat was relaunched on 11 December 2023, and Roman Titov set out two days later.

The wreckage discovered at Loch Inver has been identified as coming from Yperyod .

Solo sailor, Roger Taylor, met Roman and initially translated his account of Yperyod ‘s dismasting for Yachting Monthly .

Roger subsequently wrote an article about the repairs to Yperyod , which will be appearing in May’s issue of Practical Boat Owner magazine.

MORE ON Russia Vladimir Putin Scotland Sailing

Get email updates with the day's biggest stories.

MORE SECTIONS

• Dear Deidre

MORE FROM THE SUN

• Newsletters
• Sun Vouchers

• Scottish News

Search teams hunting missing Russian sailor after yacht wreck washes up in Scots loch

• Sarah Peddie
• Paul Cargill
• Published : 20:56, 11 Jan 2024
• Updated : 21:24, 11 Jan 2024

A DESPERATE search has been launched to find a missing Russian sailor after the remains of a yacht were found washed up in a Scots loch.

Roman Titov, who is in his late 50s, was the lone passenger on the boat which left from Ullapool harbour on December 13.

The wreckage was first spotted in Loch Inver at around 12.30pm on Saturday, police said.

A local lifeboat, police divers and two coastguard rescue helicopters were dispatched to the scene.

Further debris has since been discovered in the Strathan Bay area, sparking concern for the experienced Russian sailor.

Mr Titov had a miraculous escape nearly two years ago after his sailing boat capsized in the Atlantic Ocean.

read more scottish news

Body pulled from River Clyde after emergency services rush to scene

Specialist cops search containers as hunt for missing mum intensifies

His yacht turned upside down in stormy weather near Rockall - 200 miles off the coast of Scotland.

He managed to climb back onto the boat and repair the badly damaged vessel.

It then took him nearly two weeks to sail to safety in Ullapool.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Inquiries are ongoing following the recovery of wreckage from a yacht in the Strathan Bay area near Lochinver.

Most read in The Scottish Sun

I became a millionaire while working in care home, but I still finished shift

Celtic ace Maeda could be heading back to Glasgow early after shock development

NHS probe after ‘porn star filmed romp with junior doc in Scots kids hospital’

Hearts complete stunning swoop for rivals' key man as they land TWO new stars

"We were made aware of debris in the area around 12.30pm on Saturday January 6, and police divers along with HM Coastguard and the RNLI carried out extensive searches.

"It is believed the yacht left Ullapool harbour on Wednesday December 13, 2023 with one person, a man, on board.

"The man is missing and concerns are growing for his welfare. His family are aware."

Anyone with information is asked to call Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 1323 of January 6.

• missing person
• Police Scotland

• Public Notices
• Supplements

• Coronavirus
• Energy North
• Environment
• Highand Council
• Other Sport
• Family Notices
• Highland Heroes

Home   News   Article

Man missing after yacht debris find in Highland bay understood to be Russian sailor who had left from Ullapool

A MAN posted missing after yacht wreckage was found in a Highland loch is understood to be an experienced Russian sailor.

It's believed that Roman Titov had left Ullapool Harbour back on December 13 last year.

The alarm was raised after wreckage debris from a yacht was found in the Strathan Bay area near Lochinver on Saturday.

Highland police confirmed that enquiries are continuing after they were alerted to the discovery.

The family of Mr Titov – who it's understood has previously visited and received a warm welcome in Ullapool – has been made aware of the discovery and is being kept informed of developments.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Enquiries are ongoing following the recovery of wreckage from a yacht in the Strathan Bay area near Lochinver.

“We were made aware of debris in the area around 12.30pm on Saturday, January 6, 2024, and police divers along with HM Coastguard and the RNLI carried out extensive searches.

“It is believed the yacht left Ullapool harbour on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, with one person, a man, on board.

“The man is missing and concerns are growing for his welfare. His family are aware.

“Anyone with information that could assist is asked to call Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 1323 of Saturday, 6 January, 2024.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.

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.”

• Manage Account
• Press and Journal ePaper
• Evening Express ePaper

Man missing from sunken Lochinver yacht revealed to be Russian sailor

Roman Titov is believed to have been aboard the vessel when it set off from Ullapool Harbour last month.

A man who remains missing after a yacht sunk near Lochinver is understood to be a Russian sailor.

Roman Titov is believed to have been aboard the vessel when it set off from Ullapool Harbour on December 13 last year.

However, it is feared his journey may have ended in tragedy near the Sutherland village after debris washed ashore at Strathan Bay on Saturday.

According to The Mirror , Titov is a reservist lieutenant captain in the Russian navy and former navigator on nuclear submarines.

Police say concerns are growing for his welfare and his family have been made aware.

A major search operation has been underway since the weekend, but has so far provided no leads.

Police divers have been combing the bay.

Details about his voyage are still widely unknown.

Roman Titov’s family aware of search

In a previous statement, a police spokesperson said: “Inquiries are ongoing following the recovery of wreckage from a yacht in the Strathan Bay area near Lochinver.

“We were made aware of debris in the area around 12.30pm on Saturday, January 6, and police divers along with HM Coastguard and the RNLI carried out extensive searches.

“It is believed the yacht left Ullapool harbour on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, with one person, a man, on board.

“The man is missing and concerns are growing for his welfare. His family are aware.

“Anyone with information that could assist is asked to call Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 1323 of Saturday, January 6.”

More from Highlands & Islands

Man appears in court over attempted murder in Fort William

Oban pensioner reveals shock over £11,000 Ovo power bill

Inverness aesthetics clinic owner claims 'people will die' at hands of unqualified beauticians injecting…

Muir of Ord chipper that celebrated Queen’s death up for sale

Coul Links: Controversial golf course plan backed by local tourism group during Scottish Golf…

'It came naturally': Groundbreaking UHI student play takes flight in South Uist

Tourist who killed girlfriend in crash on Highland holiday avoids prison

Drunken chef threw deep fat fryer over Highland hotel kitchen

90-year-old killed after vehicle crashed into him on the A9 near Ralia

All journeys on the ‘Hogwarts Express’ cancelled as operator continues battle over door safety

I tutored the children of Russia's elite amid the backdrop of war. One teenager said he had his own massage therapist.

• I used to teach the children of Russian oligarchs and politicians.
• Our classrooms were penthouse apartments, yachts, and mansions in exclusive Moscow suburbs.
• The outbreak of war in Ukraine revealed just how isolated the kids were. 

This essay is based on the recollections of Cameron Manley, 24, a news fellow at Business Insider who previously worked as a private tutor in Moscow and, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Monaco. The names of students have been changed to protect their identity.

In late 2021, I started working for an international tutoring agency in Moscow.

The agency counted some of Russia's elite among its clientele — so I was quickly thrust into a world of private jets, guarded estates, and personal chauffeurs.

I worked in Moscow until Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when I was relocated to Monaco.

We charged $150 per hour minimum for classes, but more experienced tutors and specific packages for private-school assessments or English-language testing would cost more.

Tutoring does not require any kind of formal qualification, but parents were still often happy to part with their cash as long as the tutors had a native-English accent and some connection to either the British private school system or some of the UK's top universities.

$150 was also small change for many of these families, which was reflected in the various classroom settings — Monaco penthouses, Moscow mansions, and yachts.

The money the Russian elite were willing to throw at young, inexperienced tutors was unbelievable — and frankly quite frightening.

I had acquaintances who worked as governors or nannies who were earning well into six figures.

Others were offered similarly extortionate salaries to spend their summers teaching on yachts in places like St. Barts in the Caribbean or sailing around the world.

I taught in luxurious villas and penthouse apartments

Often the children we taught, who were from four to around 18 years old, had private drivers who hurried them about in tinted Range Rovers or Mercedes-Benz cars.

In Moscow, many of our classes took place in Rublevka, an elite guarded estate in the west of the capital, where Russian President Vladimir Putin owns a home.

Many of the kids we taught lived in a world entirely different from any we had known.

A colleague of mine did after-school classes there with an eight-year-old boy called Ivan.

One week his family had been planning a weekend trip to get away from the capital: "I hope the weather isn't too bad so we can take the helicopter and don't have to drive," he said.

We also homeschooled two pupils: Alexei, 13, and his younger sister, Elena, 11.

The first time I met Alexei, he walked into our office sporting $1,000 Balenciaga trainers and a watch worth at least five times as much.

He was nevertheless a pleasant child but, like Ivan, appeared somewhat disconnected from reality.

In one class, he was shocked to hear that we didn't receive regular pampering from staff at home: "It's been seven months since you had a massage? I have a massage every day, I have my own massage therapist," he told us.

Elena was less communicative and didn't seem to enjoy the lavish lifestyle she had.

"What have I done to deserve this? I hate my life," she would often say.

My colleagues and I became increasingly concerned about her well-being as time went on.

She didn't enjoy classes alone and wanted to be with friends in a normal school.

But her parents insisted.

She seem tied to the life into which she had been born.

The job constantly surprised me

I met two types of parents in the job: Those who spent thousands of dollars on their children because they cared about them, and those who spent the money so that they didn't have to think about them.

I felt that many of the parents fell into the latter category.

Related stories

Frequently, we had little, if any, contact with the parents, and we would usually deal with nannies or drivers instead.

It felt like many of the parents found you to be an eye-sore in their luxurious lives.

Once, I had to teach a lesson at a seaside villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, an exclusive area between Nice in the south of France and Monaco.

The home was on a private road, and I entered through a large automatic gate that was littered with security cameras.

The house was spread out over two floors, with a swimming pool, a fully-equipped gym, a sauna, and a steam room.

When I arrived, they told me that the kids, aged four and six, had not finished their personal training session and that I would have to wait outside in the street.

Eventually the nanny said she would find me somewhere to sit "out of sight," so I was hurried into a large store cupboard in the furthest corner of the house. The kids strolled in about an hour later.

Some tried to get their children out of Russia after the invasion began

When the war in Ukraine broke out, a number of families came to us looking to find school placements for their children either in the West or in the United Arab Emirates , where many wealthy Russians fled at the outbreak of the war.

There was one family with three young children who were looking to find schools in Dubai.

Speaking to us in perfect English on Zoom with a background that boasted enormous paintings and palatial pillars, they seemed polite, well-mannered, and bright.

We later discovered that the kids were the grandchildren of a senior Russian politician who had played a major role in starting the war in Ukraine.

The irony was not lost on us that some of those who had played a key part in helping Putin initiate his brutal, unprovoked invasion were now trying to help their children escape Russia.

The children often brought up politics and the war

The company we worked for had explicitly told us to avoid discussing politics with the pupils, as the government was cracking down on protestors, and it could have put us and our pupils in danger.

But the children often brought the topic up themselves, their comments ringing with the ideology they had likely absorbed at home.

"Ukraine is ours, after all," Alexei told me in one class just after the invasion began in February.

Ivan, referring to a picture of Putin, once said, "Oh, he's amazing! Don't you think he's amazing?"

"You should open an office in Kyiv. It's beautiful there," one parent also wryly said to me.

There were occasional breakthroughs

We taught many different pupils but only one really seemed to appreciate just how lucky they were.

Elizaveta, 15, frequently expressed her discontent with Putin's Russia.

"We're killing thousands of innocent Ukrainians. It's awful," she once said.

That week, she had been kicked out of school for dyeing her hair and had asked her parents to book some additional classes so that she didn't fall behind.

Her parents were looking to send her to an English private school that September.

"The best thing I can do now is leave Russia," she told me. "That's the last option I have. Perhaps from abroad, I might be able to do some good."

Elizaveta was an anomaly, and most of the time, you had to settle for smaller victories.

I distinctly remember telling our homeschooled pupils that my colleagues and I had decided to leave Russia .

Elena seemed like she could not have cared less.

But Alexei looked genuinely upset.

It was as though the prism through which he saw the world had been, if not broken, then at the very least a little scratched.

Watch: VIDEO: How Russian media manufactured an alternate reality about the war in Ukraine

• Main content

How monogrammed bathrobes led US to put a $1M bounty on Russian yacht manager’s head

You can’t cover up the truth — not even in a luxury robe.

The US government is offering a reward of up to $1 million for a businessman who allegedly helped a Russian oligarch’s yacht circumvent sanctions — until the scheme was revealed by an order for monogrammed bathrobes.

Swiss-based businessman Vladislav Osipov, 52, is wanted on charges including bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy for his role as a high-level employee of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, the Justice Department announced last month.

A few months after Vekselberg was sanctioned by the US government in April 2018, Osipov allegedly instructed a boat management firm in Spain to disguise his $90 million yacht, Tango, by referring to it as the Fanta, the federal indictment stated.

At Osipov’s instruction, yacht employees used the false name to buy thousands of dollars worth of goods and services that were processed by US companies and financial institutions that would otherwise have refused to do business with a sanctioned buyer, the document alleged.

In addition to navigation software, leather magazine holders and web services, the management company running the Tango shelled out over $180,000 to a US internet provider, the feds said.

But a smoking gun appeared on Sept. 3, 2020, with the purchase of $2,600 monogrammed luxury robes — that gave away the Fanta’s real name, Tango.

The company ordered a second set of robes the following year, which contained explicit instructions that the ship should be referred to as Fanta on the invoice, even though the robes themselves bore a different name, the indictment read.

The Tango was seized in the Mediterranean by the FBI and Spanish authorities shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Washington Post reported.

Osipov was initially indicted last year, documents showed. The owner of the Spanish management company, Richard Masters, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US and violating federal sanctions, the Washington Post added .

As of late February, the Justice Department is offering up to $1 million for information leading to Osipov’s arrest.

The Swiss-based former Russian citizen may be in Herrliberg, Switzerland; Majorca, Spain; or Moscow, the feds warned.

The charges against Osipov are indicative of the government’s increased interest in expanding the reach of sanctions against Russian interests by targeting Western associates, the Washington Post suggested.

Just last month, the Justice Department announced charges against two stateside “facilitators” who supposedly helped Russian bank head Andrey Kostin conceal his ownership of a $12 million Aspen, Colo., property, the outlet noted.

The threat of criminal charges, the Washington Post said, is more concerning to Russians living and working in the West than the slew of Treasury Department sanctions.

“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, said last month.

“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,” Thad McBride, an international trade partner at the law firm Bass Berry & Sims, told the Washington Post.

“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.”

Vekselberg, 66, has previously complained that he is unfairly targeted by US sanctions simply because he is Russian, wealthy, and connected with President Vladimir Putin, the newspaper said.

According to the documents, Osipov also helped Vekselberg use the shadow entities to circumvent the Treasury Department’s 50 percent ownership rule, which makes it illegal to do business with a firm if the sanctioned owner controls over 50 percent of the company.

Osipov’s attorney, Barry J. Pollack, argued that the Tango was not more than 50% owned by Vekselberg, and that the government’s application of the federal sanctions in this case was “unconstitutional.”

“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 the opposition filing.

Pollack also insisted that his client is not a fugitive because he never engaged in illegal activity on US soil and never lived there.

Pollack did not immediately return The Post’s request for a comment.