According to Vorstka’s calculations, by the beginning of 2022, Russian billionaires, officials and politically exposed persons owned at least 83 publicly known yachts with a total value of $9 billion 765 million. After 22 months – by mid-October 2023 – the Russians could use only 59 of them – the rest of the vessels were either arrested and frozen, or sold.
See interactive infographics about the yachts of the Russian “elite” here
The basis for the detention of Pumpyansky’s yacht was a lawsuit from the JP Morgan bank, with which the billionaire had a loan agreement. The bank then said that sanctions against Pumpyansky meant a violation of the terms of the loan, since after that JP Morgan was unable to accept payment from the oligarch in US dollars – at that time Pumpyansky owed the bank $20 million.
Now states that are hunting for the property of sanctioned persons have two options for action against Russian sea vessels: freezing with blocking and arrest, lawyer and partner of BGP Litigation Sergei Glandin explained to VERSTKA.
Freezing and blocking is when a legal entity or individual is included in the sanctions list, and all other subjects of business relations subject to specific legislation are prohibited from conducting financial and economic relations with him. “And if they have something: some rights or collateral belonging to sanctioned persons, then they must freeze it all and report to the regulator. That is, it does not cease to be the person’s money, property or property, but now he will not be able to do anything with it without obtaining a special license,” says Glandin.
To seize property, an appropriate judicial act is required – usually the investigation or the prosecutor’s office asks the court to seize the yacht on the grounds that it was used to violate the sanctions regime. The owner also cannot use the vessel under these measures, but still remains its owner.
But there is another measure – confiscation of the asset, explains Ilya Shumanov, CEO of Transparency International Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). “This is a seizure, that is, deprivation of property rights. It means expropriation, when an asset is confiscated and no compensation is given for it,” Shumanov noted in a conversation with Vorstka. Only after this the seized asset can be sold to a new owner.
In total, since the beginning of the war, European and American authorities managed to get to 21 (the list includes the yacht of Viktor Medvedchuk because of his connection with Putin (*international criminal)) yachts of Russian billionaires – they were frozen and arrested. To date, 17 vessels remain in this status, since three yachts were illegally removed from ports after being detained (two Aldabra yachts of the same name owned by Uralchem Dmitry Mazepina and Irina VU Alisher Usmanova), and Pumpyansky’s yacht was sold at auction.
But in addition to the evacuation of the yachts itself, problems with their maintenance also appeared – after the introduction of sanctions, the European companies responsible for their maintenance began to refuse to fulfill their obligations. This applies to bunkering with fuel, vessel insurance, providing access to mapping services, as well as preventive maintenance. Therefore, some yacht owners chose to re-register their vessels in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).
The most famous case is translation under the Russian flag 142 meters Nord superyachts co-owner of Severstal Alexey Mordashov. According to classified Russian customs statistics available to Vorstka, Nord received registration in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) on May 27 last year. The new owner of the vessel, instead of the offshore Opus Enterprises Limited from the British Virgin Islands, became Yurkon LLC, which for some time before was owned by Marina Mordashova, the wife of a billionaire. At the same time, the yacht’s entry into Russian waters allowed us to evaluate this asset in a new way. If in March 2022 Forbes pointed outthat the yacht costs at least $300 million, then during customs clearance the owner himself valued it at $370 million.
Apparently, businessman Alexey Sagal did the same thing (Sagal is the owner of the Arnest group of companies, which produces perfumes, cosmetics and household products. In August 2023, Arnest bought seven breweries from Heineken, which decided to leave Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) after the invasion of Ukraine. Married to Elena Sagal, who from 2009 to 2012 sat in the Federation Council from the Stavropol Territory). His holding company Stavropol Agrosoyuz imported the Harmony yacht worth 468.5 million rubles ($7.4 million) into Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) in June 2022. This 55-meter vessel was built in 2001 at the Dutch shipyard Amels. Import through customs was processed under a purchase and sale agreement from an unknown Milldon Investment Ltd from the British Virgin Islands. It was not previously known that Sagal owned any yachts.
But yachts were imported into Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) on the basis of purchase and sale agreements before. For example, April 2021 did this Sergey Kogogin, general director of KamAZ, controlled by the state corporation Rostec. His company Yacht Pro, which he owns through Fresh Wind LLC, arranged the import of the 41-meter Legenda yacht. This vessel cost 510.6 million rubles ($6.7 million) and was built at the Italian shipyard Mondomarine in 2009.
In the same 2021, the 27-meter vessel Karina from the Italian company Azimut-Benetti was delivered to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) under a purchase and sale agreement. The owner of the yacht for 434 million rubles ($6 million) was Aquatechnika LLC. The main owner of this company, Anton Dolotin, is the head of the Russian representative office of Azimut-Benetti, he owns 90% of the company. But from 2009 to 2020, 40% of the company was owned by Georgiy Chumburidze, whom telegram channel VChK-OGPU called “drop” of Alisher Usmanov.
And a year before, a yacht worth 366 million rubles ($4.8 million), according to customs data, was purchased by 65-year-old Moscow resident Mikhail Sergeev. The ship in question was the Galactica Plus, built in 2012 at the Dutch shipyard Heesen Yachts, which was owned by the co-founder of Lukoil before the war. Vagit Alekperov. The recipient also turned out to be directly connected with the oil company. According to data leaks from the Federal Tax Service, Sergeev worked at Lukoil back in the 2000s. He still uses mail on the company’s domain, and in the phone books of other users he is signed as “Mikhail Dmitrievich Garage of the President of Lukoil.” The yacht itself was renamed soon after import; now it sails in Russian waters under the name Space.
But even despite the war and the increased difficulties with owning yachts through foreign companies, Russians still prefer that their maritime transport be registered in foreign jurisdictions. If owners need to use the vessel in Russian waters, they have to arrange temporary importation under a bareboat charter agreement. In essence, they charter yachts from their own companies, the captain of the yacht explained to VERSTKA on condition of anonymity. This is due to the fact that Russian citizens cannot sail on the internal waters of the state on boats registered abroad.
“The procedure is complicated and confusing. This is done by specially trained people. And after the customs import procedure is formalized, the boat can sail on our waters,” says the interlocutor of “Verstka”.
But these difficulties do not seem to frighten wealthy Russians: as customs statistics show, every year the “temporary import” of at least 30 yachts worth $3 million or more is issued into the country. In addition, in addition to the difficulties in registration, this procedure also has its advantages in the form of the opportunity to partially or completely exempt the declarant from customs duties and taxes.
Among the ships that have undergone customs clearance in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) in recent years, Vorstka discovered previously unknown yachts associated with Dmitry Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic), Putin (*international criminal)’s friend Gennady Timchenko and even former Ukrainian Defense Minister Pavel Lebedev. The total cost of 20 previously non-public yachts exceeds 10 billion rubles.
The sender of the GV, which was valued at 421.5 million rubles ($5 million) upon registration, was hidden behind an unknown offshore company, Unicorn Holdings Group Inc. from Seychelles. After passing through customs, the yacht did not remain in the Black Sea, but went to inland waters: the ship passed through the Sea of Azov, along the Don through Rostov, entered the Volga bed and further along the river went north. The final destination of the route was the elite village of Ekaterinovka near the city of Konakovo in the Tver region. The yacht stayed in the local harbor for several days, after which it began cruising along the Volga.
Throughout the entire route, the vessel was probably driven by 39-year-old Konakovo resident Anatoly Naumov, who was designated by customs as the recipient of the GV. However, Naumov is the captain of the yacht, and not the final owner. In the phone books of other users, his number is written as follows: “Anatoly Captain” and “Anatoly Kater”. But among the tags there are also more interesting ones that lead to the real owner of the vessel: “Tolya Fotinia” and “Dmitry M”.
“Photinia” is Dmitry Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic)’s yacht, named after him Svetlana’s wifewhich he talked about in investigation “He’s not Dimon” Alexey Navalny. Formally, the owner of “Photinia” is the company “Investment Commonwealth”, which previously belonged to the Cypriot offshore of Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic)’s classmate Ilya Eliseevand after February 24, 2022 was re-registered already on Eliseev’s Russian structures. It is from this very “Investment Commonwealth” that Naumov received his salary at least in 2019 and 2021, as follows from leaks of the Federal Tax Service database.
But in order to finally make sure that the GV was purchased specifically for Dmitry Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic), and not for anyone else, Vorstka called Naumov under the guise of a customs inspector. The correspondent, under the pretext of checking information, named the data entered into the database when importing the yacht, and became convinced that Naumov was really involved in its registration.
“The vessel is also marked “special regime” for Dmitry Anatolyevich in order to avoid additional checks. Is this all still relevant?” asked the correspondent, suggesting that the yacht of a high-ranking official should somehow be marked in government databases.
“Yes. Our brokers did this, but in general, yes. “We’ll have to check with them,” Naumov replied.
Victoria, which according to customs data costs about 2 billion 435 million rubles ($29.5 million), was created under the order of an offshore company from the British Virgin Islands, Julesburg Corp. The hull of the yacht was prepared at Sevmash, but it was finally assembled in 2014 in Italy. According to media reportsthe owner of the offshore was the general director of the state-owned Development Corporation JSC Sergey Maslov (In 2016, a criminal case was opened against Maslov for the theft of 1 billion rubles from the deprived Narodny Kredit bank. A year later, the case was dropped). Back in 2016 Ura. ru pointed to business contacts between Maslov and Timchenko: in 2013, Volga Group, one of Timchenko’s Cypriot subsidiaries, acquired the Aquanika company, the founder of which was Maslov’s Luxembourg company. However, now the connection between both “Victoria” and “Orion” with Gennady Timchenko has become much more obvious.
According to the customs database, Orion, at least until 2017, and Victoria, until 2020, belonged to the Panamanian offshore Ronita Group Corp. It was this company that transferred them to the management of the Russian operator – JSC Paer. In 2021, both yachts changed both the owner and the operator – in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) they began to be registered at JSC Fazar-invest, and the shipper began to be listed as an offshore company from the Marshall Islands, Bars Marine. But what’s even more interesting is that “Paer” and “Fazar-Invest” turned out to be connected with each other: “Paer” was founded by Muscovite Evgeniy Vorobyov, he is also the founder of JSC “Trustholding”, which is headed by Mikhail Semyonov, who is also the general director of “Fazar” -Invest”. And also Semyonov famous as a top manager in Timchenko’s companies.
But this is not the only connection between Russian operators and Timchenko. “Paer” is headed by Vladimir Reztsov. His father heads Helitrans, which was owned by Waterfront Holdings Services from the British Virgin Islands. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)this offshore is controlled by Timchenko through a number of companies.
Another Timchenko ship
In addition to the Orion and Victoria, Fazar-Invest operates another remarkable vessel – the VIP motor ship Shtandart, worth about 1.2 billion rubles. The Investigation Command Center wrote:that it was Timchenko who originally wanted to build the ship, but after losing $4.6 billion due to sanctions in 2014, the expensive asset was sold. Billionaires became buyers Iskander Makhmudov And Andrey Bokarev – now their company “Lawton” owns 60% of the company “Tanais”, which owned the ship.
We are talking about Yug-Businesspartner LLC, owned by Andrey Skok, who is called the asset manager and Tkachev’s “wallet”. On June 27, this company brought the 47-meter yacht Severina through customs. The ship was assembled in 2008 at the Ukrainian shipyard “Liman”, now it flies under the Russian flag and is valued at 353 million rubles. In June, judging by the customs declaration, the yacht returned from repairs, which were carried out in Turkey. However, she did not stay in Russian waters for long – on October 26, the ship again transmitted a signal from the Turkish city of Tavsanli.
The second yacht is called Swift. This vessel, model AB 116, was also built at the AB Yachts shipyard. The 36-meter-long yacht, launched in 2014, can accommodate up to 16 passengers. When passing through customs in 2022, it cost 597 million rubles ($8.9 million at that time), the year before – 726 million rubles ($10 million).
How are yachts connected to Gazprom?
At least until the end of 2022, the Swift yacht belonged to an offshore company from the British Virgin Islands, Deneb Properties Inc – it is listed in customs documents as the shipper to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). In December 2022, the yacht arrived in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) from Tringa Holdings Ltd from the same jurisdiction. The same company in 2021 (year of construction) and in 2022 processed the import of the Angel yacht to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).
The recipients of the yachts in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) were one person and one company: Sergey Makarkin and JSC Business Partner. The first one was registered with Swift from Dened Properties in May 2022 and Angel from Tringa Holdings in July 2021. The second will include both yachts from Tringa Holdings in December 2022.
Business Partner JSC was established in May 2022. It is unknown who owns it now. But the company is headed by Dmitry Kine. He was also the general director of Gazpromneft Shipping from 2013 to 2021. Coincidentally, Sergei Makarkin also worked at a Gazprom Neft subsidiary. As follows from the leaks of the Federal Tax Service database, he received a salary from the company at least in 2017, 2018 and 2021. Users of the Fleetphoto portal also point out that Makarkin and the company imported yachts not for personal purposes, but in the interests of Gazprom. There, the owner of both yachts (1,2) is called Business Partner JSC, and the operator is Gazpromneft Shipping.
Advisor to Kostin, Crimean deputy, St. Petersburg authority and other owners of yachts worth hundreds of millions of rubles
— Vasily Titov — former deputy and now adviser to the head of VTB Andrey Kostin. Since 2007, he has headed the public council under the FSB.
In June 2021 and June 2023, Titov processed the import of the 23-meter yacht Astrid through customs. This Ferretti 780 model ship from the shipyard of the same name costs more than 281 million rubles (3 million 395 thousand dollars).
— Fedosya Sukhankina is the 72-year-old wife of businessman Mikhail Sukhankin, who in the 90s created several enterprises to provide the Magadan region with fuel and fuels and lubricants. He solely owns the Kolymanefteprodukt company, a monopolist on the oil products market in the Magadan region, and through it controls the gold mining company GDK Berelekh.
It was Kolymanefteproduct that in May 2022 received a 25-meter yacht named Christine. This ship, the Princess S78 model, was built in the same year at the British shipyard Princess Yachts. The shipper of the yacht under the agreement between the residents is the Yacht Trade company of businessman Evgeniy Kochman (Kochman is the founder of the Imperial Yachts company, which oversaw the construction of the Scheherazade yacht for Vladimir Putin (*international criminal)). In June 2022, Kochman and Imperial Yachts came under US sanctions.
— Sergey Vasiliev – a reputable entrepreneur from St. Petersburg, ally Ilya Traber And Dmitry Skigin. All three of them ran a successful oil business in the 90s, in particular, with the entourage of Vladimir Putin (*international criminal), who at that time worked in the mayor’s office of St. Petersburg.
Vasiliev’s company “SVS Company” in May 2021 and June 2023 processed the import of the 37-meter yacht Standarte. The vessel, built in 2007 by the Italian company Tecnomar Yachts, was valued at 404.7 million rubles. […]
— Vildan Muratov is a 38-year-old businessman from the Orenburg region and former general director of the Vishnevsky pig breeding complex. Before Muratov, the company was headed by its founder, Viktor Zheleznov. In the summer of 2018, Zheleznov was detained along with the region’s Minister of Agriculture, Mikhail Maslov. According to investigators, an entrepreneur and an official stole about 100 million rubles while receiving subsidies.
In August of this year, LLC “UK – RC “South Ural”, owned by Muratov, imported a 21-meter long yacht called Dream to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). The vessel was launched at the Italian shipyard Cranchi Yachts only this year. Its cost is more than 350 million rubles (3 million 649 thousand dollars).
— Mikhail Smolyanov is a member of the parliament of the annexed Crimea. Owns car dealerships through the Avtodel company, which often wins tenders for the supply of cars to local authorities.
In 2021 and 2023, Smolyanov imported the 21-meter yacht Julia through customs. The Squadron model vessel was built by the British company Fairline in 2021. In both cases, upon registration, the cost of the yacht was 2.7 million dollars (202 and 265 million rubles, respectively). Moreover, over the previous seven years – from 2014 to 2020 – Smolyanov declared only 91.3 million rubles.