International sanctions have been imposed during the Russo-Ukrainian War by a large number of countries, including the United States, Canada, the European Union, and a number of international organisations against Russia, Crimea, and Belarus following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in late February 2014. These sanctions were imposed against individuals, businesses, officials and assets such as yachts from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
Name | Owner | Action taken | Photo | Refs | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Action | By | Status | ||||
M/Y A | Andrey Melnichenko | Flag state deregistered | Isle of Man | Sailed to Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates and stuck in port until a new flag state is found. | [1] | ||
S/Y A | Andrey Melnichenko | 12 March 2022 | Arrested | Italy | [1] [2] | ||
Alfa Nero | Andrey Guryev | Seized | Antigua and Barbuda | The yacht was abandoned in the harbour since February 2022. To be actioned off if no owner is identified by March 31st, 2023 | [3] | ||
TBA | Auction date | Antigua and Barbuda | |||||
Amadea | Suleyman Kerimov | 4 May 2022 | Arrested | Fiji | Transported by a US crew to San Diego. | [2] | |
27 May 2022 | Seized | United States | |||||
Amore Vero | Igor Sechin | 2 March 2022 | Arrested | France | [2] | ||
Axioma | Dmitry Pumpyansky | 22 March 2022 | Arrested | Gibraltar | Axioma was arrested by Gibraltar authorities on behalf of JPMorgan Chase. Later she was officially seized and put up for auction on 23 August 2022. On 27 September 2022 it was announced that the winning bid was selected out of a total of 63, and is worth $37.5m. | [4] [2] [5] [6] | |
Seized | Gibraltar | ||||||
23 August 2022 | Auction date | Gibraltar | |||||
27 September 2022 | Winning bid selected | Gibraltar | |||||
Crescent | Igor Sechin | 15 March 2022 | Arrested | Spain | [2] [7] | ||
Dilbar | Alisher Usmanov | 3 March 2022 | Sanctioned | United States | [8] [2] | ||
3 March 2022 | Arrested | Germany | |||||
Firebird | Andrey Yakunin | 17 October 2022 | Arrested | Norway | Both yacht and owner were arrested after drones were flying from the yacht and presumably taking pictures of strategic areas, which is not allowed under current sanctions. | [9] [10] | |
Flying Fox | Dmitry Kamenshchik | 28 March 2022 | Arrested | Dominican Republic | Flying Fox was briefly detained and searched in the Dominican Republic and released due to no evidence of wrong doing. As soon as she was released, she started crossing the Atlantic Ocean towards Turkey. Later Flying Fox was added to the US sanctions list due to its association with Imperial Yachts. Flying Fox was removed from the US sanctions list on the 30th of September 2024 after breaking ties with Imperial Yachts [11] [12] | [13] [2] | |
Released | Dominican Republic | ||||||
3 June 2022 | Sanctioned | United States | |||||
30 September | Unsanctioned [14] | United States | |||||
Galactica | Vagit Alekperov | 3 March 2022 | Sanctioned | Netherlands | Since Galactica was still being fitted out by the yard, she was not allowed to be delivered to her owner because of sanctions. | [15] [16] | |
Garcon | Roman Abramovich | March 2022 | Arrested | Antigua and Barbuda | Garcon was arrested on Antigua at the request of the United Kingdom. The reason for her release is unknown but as soon as she was she started crossing the Atlantic Ocean towards Morocco. | [17] | |
22 July 2022 | Released | Antigua and Barbuda | |||||
Graceful | Russian Government Vladimir Putin (alleged) | 3 June 2022 | Sanctioned | United States | Graceful left Blohm + Voss, Germany abruptly mid refit on 9 February 2022. Now she is hiding from sanctions in Kaliningrad, Russia. | [18] | |
Halo | Roman Abramovich | March 2022 | Arrested | Antigua and Barbuda | Halo was arrested on Antigua at the request of the United Kingdom. The reason for her release is unknown but as soon as she was she started crossing the Atlantic Ocean towards Morocco. | [17] | |
22 July 2022 | Released | Antigua and Barbuda | |||||
Lady Anastasia | Aleksandr Mikheyev | 26 February 2022 | Attempted scuttling | Taras Ostapchuk (ships engineer) | [19] [7] | ||
15 March 2022 | Arrested | Spain | |||||
Lady M | Alexei Mordashov | 5 March 2022 | Arrested | Italy | [20] [21] [2] | ||
Lena | Gennady Timchenko | 5 March 2022 | Arrested | Italy | [2] | ||
Luna | Farkhad Akhmedov | 12 May 2022 | Arrested | Germany | [22] | ||
Madame Gu | Andrei Skoch | 3 June 2022 | Sanctioned | United States | Madame Gu is hiding from sanctions in Dubai, UAE. | ||
New Vogue | 2 April 2022 | Arrested | Italy | [2] | |||
Olympia | Vladimir Putin | 3 June 2022 | Sanctioned | United States | Olympia is hiding from sanctions in Russia. | [23] | |
PHI | Vitaly Vasilievich Kochetkov | 29 March 2022 | Arrested | United Kingdom | [24] [2] | ||
Quantum Blue | Sergey Galitsky | 3 March 2022 | Arrested | Monaco | [25] [2] | ||
4 March 2022 | Released | Monaco | |||||
Ragnar | Vladimir Strzhalkovsky | 23 February 2022 | Inspected | Norway | Because the owner is Russian, local fuel companies refused to sell fuel to the yacht causing her to be stuck in Narvik. The Norwegian government had to order a different company to deliver fuel so she could leave. | [26] [27] [28] | |
Arrested | The people of Norway | ||||||
30 March 2022 | Released | Norway | |||||
Royal Romance | Viktor Medvedchuk | 23 March 2022 | Arrested | Croatia | Following the arrest of the owner, the yacht was arrested by Croatian authorities in Split. On 1 December 2022 it was announced she was seized and set to be auctioned off by the Asset Recovery and Management Agency. An auction date is not announced as of 1 December 2022. | [29] [2] [30] | |
1 December 2022 | Seized | Croatia | |||||
TBA | Auction date | Croatia | |||||
TBA | Winning bid selected | Croatia | |||||
Scheherazade | Eduard Khudainatov | 9 May 2022 | Arrested | Italy | [2] | ||
Sea Rhapsody | Andrey Kostin | 3 June 2022 | Sanctioned | United States | Sea Rhapsody is hiding from sanctions in the Seychelles. | [31] | |
Tango | Viktor Vekselberg | 5 April 2022 | Seized | United States | She was boarded by Spanish and US agencies and subsequently seized by the US. | [32] [2] | |
Valerie | Sergey Chemezov | 15 March 2022 | Arrested | Spain | MY Valerie was arrested while being moored at the MB92 shipyard in Barcelona. She later changed the name to Meridian A in an effort to confuse Spanish officials and try to escape the arrest. Following a relocation from the refit yard where she was taking up space since her arrest to a vacant berth the owner stopped paying for the berthing fees and the yacht was subsequently seized. | [33] [2] [7] [34] | |
4 November 2022 | Seized | Spain |
Below a list of yachts that have not directly been impacted by sanctions but do have owners that are on one or more sanction lists.
Alexey Alexandrovich Mordashov is a Russian billionaire businessman. He is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia's largest steel and mining company.
Feadship is a cooperative venture between two shipyards: Royal Van Lent Shipyard and Koninklijke De Vries Scheepsbouw. Feadship designs and constructs high-end luxury yachts and is one of the leading builders of custom superyachts such as Aquarius, Symphony, Savannah and Venus.
Ice is a large private yacht, measuring 295 feet (90 m) in length. Launched in 2005 as Air, she was completed at the Lürssen yard in Bremen, Germany to the design of Tim Heywood. The yacht was owned by Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov from christening until 2015 when Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue of Equatorial Guinea acquired the yacht.
Al Raya, is a motor yacht built in 2008 by Lürssen. She was originally built for Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov and named Dilbar, after Usmanov's mother. The ship has an overall length of 110.0 m (360.9 ft) and a beam of 16.3 m (53 ft).
Motor Yacht A is a superyacht designed by Philippe Starck and engineered by naval architect Martin Francis. She was built by the Blohm + Voss shipyard at the HDW deepwater facility in Kiel. She was ordered in November 2004, and delivered in 2008 at a rumoured cost of US$300 million. With a length of 119 metres (390 ft) and measuring almost 6,000 tonnes, she is one of the largest motor yachts in the world. Before 2022 she was connected with the Russian entrepreneur and industrialist Andrey Melnichenko, but, according to his representatives, he has no relation to her anymore, neither in terms of ownership, nor in any other way. The yacht has been laid up in the United Arab Emirates since 2022.
Azzam is a private superyacht built by German shipyard Lürssen Yachts. Azzam was launched on 5 April 2013. At 180 metres (590 ft) in length, she is the longest private motor yacht in the world. She has a beam of 20.8 metres (68 ft) and an unusually shallow draft of 4.3 m. The yacht was delivered on 9 September 2013.
Sailing Yacht A is a sailing yacht launched in 2015. The vessel is a sail-assisted motor yacht designed by Philippe Starck and built by Nobiskrug in Kiel, Germany for the Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.
ROCK.IT is a 60.35 m superyacht launched at the Feadship yard in Aalsmeer. The yacht was designed by Dutch design company Sinot Exclusive Yacht Design, which also worked with Feadship on the 88 m (289 ft) twins Musashi and Fountainhead. The yacht is currently owned by The Yacht Company based in Monaco. The yacht was previously owned by Jimmy John Liautaud, who was involved in the design process. Liautaud sold the yacht in June 2023. As of 2024, the yacht was available on Charterworld for paid charters.
Dilbar is a super-yacht launched on 14 November 2015 at the German Lürssen shipyard and delivered in 2016. She was built as Project Omar. The interior design of Dilbar was designed by Andrew Winch and the exterior by Espen Oeino.
Lunasea, formerly known as Hasna, was launched at the Feadship yard at the Kaag Island in 2017. It is a 73 m (240 ft) superyacht. She was delivered to her first owner, John Symond, later that year. Hasna was listed for sale for the first time in 2019 and reported to be sold in 2020 to American businessman Yahn Bernier. Subsequently, her name was changed to Lunasea.
The 67 m (220 ft) superyacht Anna I was launched by Feadship in 2007 at their Aalsmeer yard. British designer Michael Leach, designed both the interior and exterior of Anna I. She was put up for sale after her owner took delivery of his new 110 m (360 ft) yacht, also named Anna.
Alaiya is a luxury yacht launched by Lürssen at their yard near Rendsburg in 2018 owned by Indian steel magnate billionaire Lakshmi Mittal. Both the yacht's exterior and interior design are the work of Winch Design.
The 142 m (466 ft) superyacht Nord was launched by Lürssen at their yard near Bremen-Vegesack. Both the yacht's exterior and interior design are the work of Nuvolari & Lenard. Nord, formerly known as Project OPUS, was built under the supervision of yacht brokerage Moran Yacht & Ship based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The ship belongs to billionaire Alexey Mordashov and is estimated to be worth $500 million. Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine the yacht sailed to the Seychelles and then on to the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok to escape seizure by Western authorities.
Scheherazade is a motor superyacht built by Lürssen Yachts of Germany. With a length of 140 m (460 ft), it is currently one of the longest motor yachts in the world.
Lady Jorgia is a 115.10 m (377.6 ft) superyacht built by Lürssen. Developed using the code name Project Enzo, it was launched at Lürssen's yard near Rendsburg in 2021 and delivered later that same year to Canadian-Jamaican billionaire Michael Lee-Chin under the name Ahpo. Ahpo was built as a replacement for Lee-Chin's previous yacht, Quattroelle, which he sold in 2014. Ahpo was listed for sale in February 2023. Three months later, in May 2023, it was sold for a rumoured €330 million, in what is "believed to be the biggest brokerage deal in history". Upon its sale, it was renamed Lady Jorgia. Her new owner is Canadian billionaire and former ice hockey goaltender Patrick Dovigi. Lady Jorgia made its first appearance after its sale at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix.
Sophia is a 96.55 m superyacht launched by Feadship in 2016 at their yard in Makkum and delivered later that same year as a replacement for the owner's previous yacht, now named Flag, which he sold in 2017 to Tommy Hilfiger. Stroll later sold Faith to her current owner, Michael Latifi.
The 66 m (217 ft) superyacht Luna B was launched by Oceanco at their yard in Alblasserdam. The yacht's exterior design was done by the yard itself and Alberto Pinto was responsible for the interior design. She is owned by American/Canadian billionaire Robert Friedland.