Under the hashtag #YachtWatch, fanatics are hunting these multimillion-dollar ships. One Twitter user even posted a bingo card with the photos and names of various ships: it’s the latest game for the birdwatcher looking for something new. One user of the platform considers it the ‘best spectator sport of all time’.
Not only yachts can no longer escape this attention, because Russian private jets are also in the spotlight. For example, the American teenager Jack Sweeney, with his Twitter account Russian Oligarch Jets, ensures that no more oligarch takes the plane without this ending up on social media. Previously, he tracked the location of millionaires’ planes like Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
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.
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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.
Superyacht of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Ⓒ Levent Kisi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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