alexey mordashov yacht nord

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The 465-Foot Russian Megayacht ‘Nord’ Is Returning Home After Evading Authorities for Over a Year

The 465-foot vessel, owned by a russian oligarch, was off the grid for about eight months., tori latham, tori latham's most recent stories.

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After avoiding seizure for more than a year, the elusive Russian megayacht Nord is finally heading back to its home country.

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Ever since Putin started the war in Ukraine , his associates and their property have been targeted by foreign governments, including the United States. More than a dozen other vessels have been taken from his allies, including superyachts like the $90 million Tango and the $325 million Amadea . Toward the end of last year, the total of the seized yachts had reached more than $2 billion.

But Mordashov’s Nord has so far been able to escape capture. Back in October of last year, the cruiser turned up in Hong Kong, before taking off for Cape Town. Once its stop in South Africa became known, the vessel turned off its transponder. Still, in November, Nord was spotted traveling between two islands in the Maldives. And now we know that it’s apparently making its way back to its homeland. (A spokesperson for Mordashov declined to comment to Bloomberg on the yacht’s movements.)

Mordashov—who’s been sanctioned by the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States—is no stranger to the yacht seizures, although he’s been doing his best to evade them. In March of last year, his smaller superyacht , Lady M , was taken by Italian police.

Nord has so far been able to escape that same fate. But now that the superyacht is back on the grid, we’ll just have to wait and see whether it’s capable of continuing its game of hide-and-seek with the authorities.

Tori Latham is a digital staff writer at Robb Report. She was previously a copy editor at The Atlantic, and has written for publications including The Cut and The Hollywood Reporter. When not…

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Sanctioned Russian billionaire's $500 million superyacht leaves Russia after 7 months to sail to Hong Kong

• A superyacht owned by a sanctioned Russian billionaire left Russia after seven months for Hong Kong.
• Alexei Mordashov, Russia's third-richest person, is said to be the owner of $500 million Nord.
• Nord first listed Vietnam as its destination but changed to Hong Kong days later, per Bloomberg.

A $500 million superyacht belonging to a sanctioned Russian billionaire has sailed to Hong Kong after being docked in Russia for more than seven months.

Alexei Mordashov, a steel and mining tycoon, is believed to be the owner of the 465-foot vessel called Nord, per SuperYacht Fan . Nord was anchored in the port of Vladivostok, south east Russia, from late March until September 28 when it departed, according to data from vessel-tracking site, Marine Traffic .

After one week of sailing, Mordashov's luxury yacht ended up mooring in Hong Kong port on Wednesday, per Marine Traffic. Bloomberg reported Nord initially listed a port in Vietnam as its destination, but changed to Hong Kong a few days later.

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Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nord set sail on March 12 from the Seychelles and was tracked in the Singapore Strait on March 22, Insider previously reported, citing Marine Traffic data. From there, it traveled to Vladivostok, where it remained for over seven months.

Since February, the West has launched barrages of sanctions against Russia to cripple its economy and put pressure on President Vladimir Putin to call off Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The measures include sanctioning wealthy Russian elites and oligarchs by freezing their assets such as private jets and superyachts.

Mordashov has an estimated net worth of about $18.7 billion, making him Russia's third richest person, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index . He was sanctioned by the UK , EU , and the US after Moscow began its attack on Ukraine.

The day after he was hit with EU sanctions, Mordashov told the Russian news outlet TASS he had "absolutely nothing to do with the emergence of the current geopolitical tension" and didn't understand why he had come under sanctions.

So far, Nord has seemed to evade seizure or being frozen. However, some of Mordashov's other assets haven't been so lucky. In March, Italy seized a $71 million superyacht connected to Mordashov, as well as a $116 million property on the island of Sardinia, Reuters   reported .

According to UK filings , Mordashov transferred control of a $1.1 billion stake in Nordgold, a mining firm, to his wife and stepped down as a director.

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Hong Kong nixes U.S. sanctions on Russian-owned superyacht

Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said Tuesday he will only implement United Nations sanctions, after the U.S. warned the territory’s status as a financial center could be affected if it acts as a safe haven for sanctioned individuals .

Lee’s statement Tuesday came days after a luxury yacht connected to Russian tycoon Alexey Mordashov docked in the city.

Mordashov, who is believed to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned by the U.S., U.K. and the European Union in February after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Hong Kong authorities have said that they do not implement unilateral sanctions imposed by other governments.

“We cannot do anything that has no legal basis,” Lee told reporters. “We will comply with United Nations sanctions, that is our system, that is our rule of law,” he said.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement Monday that “the possible use of Hong Kong as a safe haven by individuals evading sanctions from multiple jurisdictions further calls into question the transparency of the business environment.”

The State Department spokesperson also said the city’s reputation as a financial center “depends on its adherence to international laws and standards” and that U.S. companies “increasingly view Hong Kong’s business environment with wariness” due to an erosion of Hong Kong’s once high degree of autonomy and its freedoms.

The $500-million superyacht Nord, allegedly owned by Mordashov, moored in Hong Kong’s harbor on Wednesday following a weeklong journey from the Russian city of Vladivostok.

Mordashov is one of Russia’s richest men, with an estimated wealth of about $18 billion. He also is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia’s largest steel and mining company. Mordashov has tried to challenge the sanctions against him in European courts.

U.S. and European authorities have seized over a dozen yachts belonging to sanctioned Russian tycoons to prevent them from sailing to other ports that are not affected by the sanctions. So Russian oligarchs have begun docking their yachts at ports in places like Turkey, which has maintained diplomatic ties with Russia since the war began.

The Nord measures 141.6 meters (464.6 feet), has two helipads, a swimming pool and 20 cabins. It is operating under a Russian flag.

Beijing sets foreign policy for Hong Kong and has demurred from participating in sanctions against Russia for its attack on Ukraine.

Britain handed control over its colony Hong Kong to China in 1997, promising to respect its semi-autonomous status as a separate economic and customs territory. The semi-autonomous city’s status as an international business hub and financial center has suffered in recent years after Beijing imposed a tough national security law on the city, aimed primarily at stamping out dissent following months of antigovernment protests in 2019.

Critics say the security law, which in certain cases allows for suspects to be transferred to mainland China for trial in its opaque legal system, could threaten Hong Kong’s rule of law.

Following passage of the law in 2020, the United States sanctioned Lee, then Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other Hong Kong and mainland Chinese government officials, for “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly.”

Lee blasted the ban on personal and official travel to the U.S. and access to the American financial system.

He was responding to a question of whether he is paid in cash, as was the case for Lam, who was also placed under U.S. sanctions that limit the ability of those designated for such penalties to transfer funds across national boundaries or convert them into different currencies.

“The second thing about the so-called sanction imposed on people in Hong Kong without justification, it is a very barbaric act, and I’m not going to comment on the effect of such barbaric act, because officials in Hong Kong do what is right to protect the interests of the country, and the interests of Hong Kong, so we will just laugh off the so-called sanctions,” Lee said.

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Yacht NORD – Elite $500M Superyacht

Owned by Russian billionaire businessman, yacht NORD is the tenth biggest yacht in the world.

The annual running costs are an incredible $40 Million per year due to her massive 142-meter length.

Yacht NORD interior

The interior of the NORD yacht was developed by Nuvolari Lenard, an Italian yacht designer who also worked on the exterior of the impressive vessel.

Twenty-four guests can be accommodated in twelve luxurious cabins, including a spacious owner’s suite. There is additional space below the deck for up to 40 crew members.

Although exact details of the interior of NORD remain private and unknown to the public, the yacht is said to have two elevators, a large gym, a sauna, a beauty salon, and a cinema.

Lenard and his design studio are known for their upscale and aesthetically pleasing layouts, which are usually kept in earth tones and natural colors.

The Italian designer also worked on Mordashov’s smaller yacht, the LADY M, where he designed both the interior and exterior.

NORD specifications

The NORD yacht has a total length of 142 meters (465.1 ft). Her beam is 19.5 meters (64 ft) long, and her draft measures 5.4 meters (17.9).

The massive yacht weighs 9,259 tons. Her four MTU engines allow her to reach top speeds of 25 knots, although her average cruising speed lies closer to 20 knots.

NORD exterior

The exterior of the NORD yacht was designed by Nuvolari Lenard and his experienced Italian design studio which is considered one of the most exclusive in the world.

The yacht is white with dark blue elements on the top decks, creating a streamlined effect and making the vessel appear even more elegant.

She has two separate helipads, one of which even has a collapsible helicopter hangar that can store smaller aircraft.

On the aft of the yacht, there is a sizeable swimming pool and beach club. NORD has a high-quality steel hull and impressive aluminum superstructure. 

The owner purchased NORD for a price of US $500 million in 2021. The yacht is estimated to incur running costs of US $40 to 50 million annually.

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A $500 million superyacht anchored near Hong Kong reveals the world’s unwillingness to enforce the U.S.’s ‘heavy-handed’ sanctions against Russia

Hong Kong is captivated by a 466-foot-long superyacht anchored one-and-a-half miles off the city’s shoreline. The $500 million yacht named Nord , reportedly owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov, floats in plain view in the city’s harbor. 

The superyacht—the length of one-and-a-half football and featuring a helicopter hangar and swimming pool—has become the latest flashpoint in Hong Kong’s relations with Western governments. The U.S. is warning that the Chinese city’s tolerance of the Nord threatens its status as a financial center, while Hong Kong’s (U.S.-sanctioned) leader is saying officials will “ laugh off ” Western threats. 

But the Nord ’s presence in Hong Kong shows a weak spot in the sanctions the West has levied against Russian individuals and companies—namely, that much of the world is still able, if not willing, to let Russians in. 

“The West’s impressive unity on the sanctions front has so far not been met with similar enthusiasm among most non-Western states, particularly in Asia and Africa,” including many governments that have condemned Russia in the United Nations General Assembly, says Ryan Mitchell, a professor of international law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong .

Many non-Western countries have pre-existing economic ties with Russia, which means sanctions present a “relatively greater cost,” Mitchell says. Countries throughout the world continue to rely on Russian commodities and goods or hope to attract spending and investment from Russian individuals and companies. That means many non-Western countries, including many that sympathize with Ukraine’s plight, are unwilling to accept economic pain to support the U.S. position on sanctions.

Sitting off the coast

The Nord first arrived in Hong Kong last week, when eagle-eyed observers noticed that the yacht had anchored on the western end of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor.

At first, Hong Kong authorities gave a muted response to the yacht’s presence in the city. The local marine department said it would not , and in fact could not, enforce “unilateral sanctions imposed by other jurisdictions” like the U.S., while stating that the city would cooperate with sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

The city’s rhetoric has hardened since then, as the yacht became another source of tensions between the U.S and Hong Kong (and, by extension, mainland China).

The U.S. accused Hong Kong of acting as a “safe haven” for those trying to flee sanctions, which “further calls into question the transparency of the business environment.”

In response, China’s foreign ministry called the U.S. comments “ misleading .” A spokesperson said that “Hong Kong’s reputation and status as an international financial center are globally recognized and brook no vilification.”

On Tuesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the city would not enforce Western sanctions on the Nord yacht. Lee, whom the U.S. government sanctioned over his role in the city’s crackdown on social unrest in 2019, said officials would “laugh off the so-called sanctions,” and called other U.S. measures towards Hong Kong officials a “barbaric act.”

In Mitchell’s view, Hong Kong has little choice but to openly refuse U.S. requests to enforce sanctions. The city “acknowledging the legitimacy of unilateral sanctions (i.e., those by one or more states acting outside of UN mechanisms) would contradict a key pillar of China’s views on international law and its enforcement,” Mitchell says. Beijing argues that Western sanctions against Moscow are illegal and counterproductive and has said it would continue to engage in “ normal trade cooperation ” with Russia.

That stance toward Western sanctions may encourage Russian individuals and companies to regard Hong Kong as a safe spot to park assets and raise capital. Russian companies are already inquiring about the possibility of basing operations in Hong Kong, including changing their registration or listing on the city’s stock exchange, reports Bloomberg . 

Yet banks in Hong Kong may be wary of engaging with Russian organizations, despite the city’s official refusal to enforce U.S. sanctions. The U.S. could impose secondary sanctions on companies or individuals that, in its view, help blacklisted entities evade sanctions, effectively barring banks from the U.S. dollar-based financial system. 

Even Beijing is concerned about the threat of secondary sanctions, with state-owned companies scaling back their presence in Russia for fear of U.S. regulatory scrutiny. 

Not just Hong Kong

While other countries may be less overt than Hong Kong in declining to enforce sanctions, “various other jurisdictions” have adopted the same position, says Mitchell. 

Russians have flocked to the United Arab Emirates, and specifically its financial hub of Dubai, to escape the scrutiny they face in places like Europe. Two Russian yachts popped up in Emirati ports in June this year. Russians snapped up property , and trading firms dealing in Russian commodities opened offices in Dubai to avoid European sanctions sanctions.

Officials in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration have, at times, shown frustration with the UAE’s defiance of sanctions on Russia. “I am not happy at all with [the UAE’s] record at this point,” said Barbara Leaf, Biden’s top Middle East diplomat, in a June congressional hearing, adding that the White House plans to “drive a better alignment, shall we say, of effort.”

Yet the UAE appears to be quite comfortable with its neutral status. On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the country after talks with UAE president Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Putin said the UAE’s neutral position “allows us to use your influence for moving toward resolving the situation” in Ukraine. 

Other countries throughout Asia have hesitated to isolate Russia entirely. India continues to purchase Russian energy and weapons, with Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar blaming the West’s refusal to sell arms to India as the reason for New Delhi’s “long standing relationship with Russia.”

Western allies are still engaging with Russia, too. Turkey, a member of NATO, has refused to join the West’s sanctions against Russia.

And even Japan, which sanctioned Russian banks and froze the country’s foreign reserves alongside Western nations, has wavered on abandoning Russia completely. Japanese companies have maintained a presence on Russian energy projects, like the Sakhalin-1 and 2 gas refineries in the country’s far east. Japanese carmaker Nissan only left the Russian market on Tuesday, seven months after the Ukraine invasion began.

Global resistance to completely isolate Russia is a stumbling block for Ukraine’s allies as they try to maintain economic pressure on Moscow and end the invasion. New sanctions would mean persuading more countries, already skeptical of sanctions, to do even more. 

“Many view U.S. sanctions practices in general as overly heavy-handed,” Mitchell said. 

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Sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov allowed to dock superyacht in Cape Town

Before the west imposed sanctions on oligarchs over vladimir putin's war in ukraine, alexey mordashov was the richest man in russia with an estimated net worth of $29.1bn, according to forbes..

By Olive Enokido-Lineham, OSINT producer @OliveLineham

Wednesday 26 October 2022 13:27, UK

A superyacht owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch will be allowed to dock in South Africa.

The country has "no legal obligation" to abide by sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, a spokesman for Cyril Ramaphosa, the president, said.

Nord, a luxury 465ft yacht worth more than $500m, is owned by Alexey Mordashov, a billionaire ally of Vladimir Putin, and will be allowed to dock in Cape Town.

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The case exemplifies the limits of sanctions imposed by the US and the EU in response to Mr Putin's war in Ukraine.

Mordashov was one of several oligarchs targeted with sanctions by the US and EU, but not the United Nations, after the invasion of Ukraine in February for their ties to Mr Putin.

Vincent Magwenya, Mr Ramaphosa's spokesman, said South Africa's obligations on sanctions "relate to only those specifically adopted by the United Nations" - of which it is a founding member.

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The yacht, which has six decks and a helipad, left Hong Kong last Thursday and is en route to Cape Town, according to MarineTraffic, a maritime tracker.

The decision has been criticised by South African opposition leaders, including the mayor of Cape Town, who urged the government to block Nord's entry.

Geordin Hill-Lewis, a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, tweeted: "There is no place in our city for accomplices to, and enablers of, Putin's war."

Mordashov had an estimated net worth of $29.1bn before sanctions hit, according to Forbes, which made him the richest man in Russia.

The yacht docked in Hong Kong after a seven-day voyage from Vladivostok, in the Russian Far East near the border with China, down through the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.

Before its arrival, John Lee, the Beijing-backed leader of Hong Kong, said the authorities would not act on unilateral sanctions imposed on Mordashov by individual jurisdictions.

"We cannot do anything that has no legal basis," said Mr Lee, who himself has been sanctioned by the US for his role in a crackdown on local freedoms.

China, a traditional ally of Russia, has opposed economic sanctions against Russia and refused to condemn Mr Putin's invasion, though last month at the UN General Assembly it called for a negotiated end to the war.

In a statement to Sky News Mr Mordashov said: "It is terrible that Ukrainians and Russians are dying, people are suffering hardships and the economy is collapsing. I sincerely hope a way can be found in the very near future to resolve this conflict.

"I have absolutely nothing to do with the emergence of the current geopolitical tension and I do not understand why the sanctions were imposed on me."

Read more: How a KGB agent from Leningrad rose to the top of the Kremlin Russia could take 10 years to recover from sanctions

Mordashov built his wealth around the Russian steel producer Severstal.

Multiple Russian-owned superyachts have been seized since the start of the war in Ukraine.

In recent months, a number have been moved to parts of the world considered beyond the reach of Western sanctions, including Turkey, parts of Asia and the Caribbean.

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Revealed: Luxury interior of Russian oligarch’s $500m superyacht after he sails it to Vladivostok ‘to evade Western sanctions’

The sumptuous interior of a sanctioned Russian oligarch’s yacht was exposed after customs officers posted a video on social media .

Alexei Mordashov’s $500 million floating palace Nord docked in Vladivostok after he reportedly feared it would be seized in the Seychelles .

Normally Moscow ’s billionaire set ply the waters of more exotic locations, and the sight of the 465ft Nord has stunned locals in Russia’s Pacific capital.

They are rushing to take selfies with the elite vessel, and customs officers who inspected the ship on arrival in port.

They were escorted around the ship by one of the crew, wearing shorts.

The video shows how well 56-year-old oligarch Mordashov - worth $21.2 billion according to Forbes - has done since he graduated from Northumbria University in England.

“We can see the interiors of several decks, Toyota Land Cruiser Prado cars, all-terrain vehicles, jet skis, motor boats, and a bathyscaphe,” said one local media account.

On a tour of the ship, a customs officer looks inside the 5-star facilities and says: “Business class room.”

The crew member corrects him saying: “First class”.

A customs man inspects one of several drinks cabinets, and comments disapprovingly: “No Russian vodka.”

The oligarch’s study was shown, and a shower room and pantry.

Mordashov is the main owner of Severstal, Russia’s largest steel and mining company.

Due to the video, the smart interior of the ocean-going yacht with its own swimming pool has been exposed for all to see.

“This is how the wealthy live even when they’re sanctioned,” said one comment.

“Mordashov won’t get any sympathy here.”

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Andrey Prokopchuk, a trade unionist, said: “Previously, serious guys used to tattoo the word ‘North’ [Nord] on their arms.”

It meant they had served time in a jail in Siberia or the Arctic.

“Today our serious boys have changed and named their mega-yachts like this.”

Others were more sympathetic.

“I am amazed at the ingenuity of the owner of this beauty,” said Yulia Ivanova.

“To sail this work of art for 20 days to its native land.”

The yacht costs $50 million to run but it remains out of reach of Western countries while in Russian waters.

Another Mordashov yacht worth $71 million and property worth $116 million was seized in Italy due to EU sanctions.

“I have absolutely nothing to do with the emergence of the current geopolitical tension and I do not understand why the EU has imposed sanctions on me,” he told Russian state news agency TASS.

Nord sails under a Cayman Islands flag.

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Why were so many metro stations in Moscow renamed?

Okhotny Ryad station in Soviet times and today.

The Moscow metro system has 275 stations, and 28 of them have been renamed at some point or other—and several times in some cases. Most of these are the oldest stations, which opened in 1935.

The politics of place names

The first station to change its name was Ulitsa Kominterna (Comintern Street). The Comintern was an international communist organization that ceased to exist in 1943, and after the war Moscow authorities decided to call the street named after it something else. In 1946, the station was renamed Kalininskaya. Then for several days in 1990, the station was called Vozdvizhenka, before eventually settling on Aleksandrovsky Sad, which is what it is called today.

The banner on the entraince reads: "Kalininskaya station." Now it's Alexandrovsky Sad.

Until 1957, Kropotkinskaya station was called Dvorets Sovetov ( Palace of Soviets ). There were plans to build a monumental Stalinist high-rise on the site of the nearby Cathedral of Christ the Saviour , which had been demolished. However, the project never got off the ground, and after Stalin's death the station was named after Kropotkinskaya Street, which passes above it.

Dvorets Sovetov station, 1935. Letters on the entrance: "Metro after Kaganovich."

Of course, politics was the main reason for changing station names. Initially, the Moscow Metro itself was named after Lazar Kaganovich, Joseph Stalin’s right-hand man. Kaganovich supervised the construction of the first metro line and was in charge of drawing up a master plan for reconstructing Moscow as the "capital of the proletariat."

In 1955, under Nikita Khrushchev's rule and during the denunciation of Stalin's personality cult, the Moscow Metro was named in honor of Vladimir Lenin.

Kropotkinskaya station, our days. Letters on the entrance: "Metropolitan after Lenin."

New Metro stations that have been opened since the collapse of the Soviet Union simply say "Moscow Metro," although the metro's affiliation with Vladimir Lenin has never officially been dropped.

Zyablikovo station. On the entrance, there are no more signs that the metro is named after Lenin.

Stations that bore the names of Stalin's associates were also renamed under Khrushchev. Additionally, some stations were named after a neighborhood or street and if these underwent name changes, the stations themselves had to be renamed as well.

Until 1961 the Moscow Metro had a Stalinskaya station that was adorned by a five-meter statue of the supreme leader. It is now called Semyonovskaya station.

Left: Stalinskaya station. Right: Now it's Semyonovskaya.

The biggest wholesale renaming of stations took place in 1990, when Moscow’s government decided to get rid of Soviet names. Overnight, 11 metro stations named after revolutionaries were given new names. Shcherbakovskaya became Alekseyevskaya, Gorkovskaya became Tverskaya, Ploshchad Nogina became Kitay-Gorod and Kirovskaya turned into Chistye Prudy. This seriously confused passengers, to put it mildly, and some older Muscovites still call Lubyanka station Dzerzhinskaya for old times' sake.

At the same time, certain stations have held onto their Soviet names. Marksistskaya and Kropotkinskaya, for instance, although there were plans to rename them too at one point.

"I still sometimes mix up Teatralnaya and Tverskaya stations,” one Moscow resident recalls .

 “Both have been renamed and both start with a ‘T.’ Vykhino still grates on the ear and, when in 1991 on the last day of my final year at school, we went to Kitay-Gorod to go on the river cruise boats, my classmates couldn’t believe that a station with that name existed."

The city government submitted a station name change for public discussion for the first time in 2015. The station in question was Voykovskaya, whose name derives from the revolutionary figure Pyotr Voykov. In the end, city residents voted against the name change, evidently not out of any affection for Voykov personally, but mainly because that was the name they were used to.

What stations changed their name most frequently?

Some stations have changed names three times. Apart from the above-mentioned Aleksandrovsky Sad (Ulitsa Kominterna->Kalininskaya->Vozdvizhenka->Aleksandrovsky Sad), a similar fate befell Partizanskaya station in the east of Moscow. Opened in 1944, it initially bore the ridiculously long name Izmaylovsky PKiO im. Stalina (Izmaylovsky Park of Culture and Rest Named After Stalin). In 1947, the station was renamed and simplified for convenience to Izmaylovskaya. Then in 1963 it was renamed yet again—this time to Izmaylovsky Park, having "donated" its previous name to the next station on the line. And in 2005 it was rechristened Partizanskaya to mark the 60th anniversary of victory in World War II. 

Partizanskaya metro station, nowadays.

Another interesting story involves Alekseyevskaya metro station. This name was originally proposed for the station, which opened in 1958, since a village with this name had been located here. It was then decided to call the station Shcherbakovskaya in honor of Aleksandr Shcherbakov, a politician who had been an associate of Stalin. Nikita Khrushchev had strained relations with Shcherbakov, however, and when he got word of it literally a few days before the station opening the builders had to hastily change all the signs. It ended up with the concise and politically correct name of Mir (Peace).

The name Shcherbakovskaya was restored in 1966 after Khrushchev's fall from power. It then became Alekseyevskaya in 1990.

Alekseyevskaya metro station.

But the station that holds the record for the most name changes is Okhotny Ryad, which opened in 1935 on the site of a cluster of market shops. When the metro system was renamed in honor of Lenin in 1955, this station was renamed after Kaganovich by way of compensation. The name lasted just two years though because in 1957 Kaganovich fell out of favor with Khrushchev, and the previous name was returned. But in 1961 it was rechristened yet again, this time in honor of Prospekt Marksa, which had just been built nearby.

Okhotny Ryad station in 1954 and Prospekt Marksa in 1986.

In 1990, two historical street names—Teatralny Proyezd and Mokhovaya Street—were revived to replace Prospekt Marksa, and the station once again became Okhotny Ryad.

Okhotny Ryad in 2020.

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Refuelling underway at Russia’s floating NPP

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The fresh fuel cassettes were delivered to Pevek by in special shipping containers along the Northern Sea Route in October by Rosatom’s fuel company TVEL and were immediately transferred aboard the FNPP. The manufacturer of nuclear fuel for all Russian nuclear icebreakers, as well as the Akademik Lomonosov, is the Mashinostroitelny Zavod (MSZ - part of TVEL) in Elektrostal, Moscow Region.

The loading of fresh fuel cassettes is being carried out into the reactor on the starboard side of the FNPP. Refuelling of the second reactor is planned for 2024. “When carrying out work to transship the nuclear fuel, all necessary measures were taken to meet radiation safety requirements,” said Alexey Fedotov, chief engineer at PATEC. “Before loading them into the reactor, each of the 121 fuel assemblies passed strict acceptance control. After a thorough check by specialists, all assemblies are sequentially placed in the reactor using automated crane equipment.” The reloading operation is planned to be completed before the end of this year. Maxim Shamambaev, the head of nuclear safety for the FNPP, said the radiation background in the region did not change during the work and remained at the natural background level for Pevek.

The installation of the FNPP in Chukotka aimed to solve two key problems. First it was to replace the retiring capacities of the Bilibino NPP, which began operating in1974, as well as the Chaunskaya thermal power plant, which is already more than 70 years old. Second, it was to supply energy to the main mining enterprises located in western Chukotka - a large ore and metal cluster, including gold mining companies and projects related to the development of the Baimskaya ore zone.

By the end of 2023, power generation to Pevek from the FNPP since it began operation in 2020 will total 200 GWh. The population of Pevek is just over 4,000. However, the plant can potentially provide electricity to a city with a population of up to 100,000.

Image courtesy of Rosatom

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