On Wednesday, for example, aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska’s yacht docked in the port of the capital Malé, about 600 kilometers off the coast of India, MarineTraffic reports. Deripaska’s company Rusal has been facing US sanctions since 2018. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week, new sanctions against Russia have been announced at a rapid pace by western countries. For example, a French minister threatened to track down Russian oligarchs in France and confiscate all their assets.
The Titan
The White House announced on Sunday that it has set up a new task force to identify and prosecute Russian oligarchs. Their assets will be frozen, be it money, real estate or yachts. The hunt for oligarchs is motivated by the close ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and wealthy entrepreneurs and owners of conglomerates, mines and industries. The billionaires and executives in the Kremlin form a partnership that keeps the country stable and in Putin’s hands for the time being.
The luxurious yacht The Titan of steel magnate Aleksander Abramov is said to have been in the port of Malé for two days. And there are at least three more on the way, MarineTraffic points out. In the waters of the Maldives, for example, sails the 88-meter yacht Nirvana of one of the richest Russians, Vladimir Potanin. According to observers, many Russian yachts were docked in the Middle East at the beginning of this year. The government of the Maldives has no comment on the Russian interest.