Abramovich superyacht heads west across Mediterranean after sanctions
Roman Abramovich’s superyacht Solaris was heading west across the Mediterranean after sanctions were extended to the Chelsea FC owner.
His $600m vessel, tracked off the coast of Sicily on Thursday, appeared to have joined the hurried sailings of Russian oligarchs moving their superyachts across the world to avoid the seizure by governments enforcing sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Solaris left the Barcelona port where it had been undergoing repairs on Tuesday, according to Reuters, and by Thursday afternoon it was rounding the southern coast of Sicily. Abramovich’s other yacht, the even more luxurious Eclipse – estimated to be worth more than $1bn after extensive renovations – set sail east from the Caribbean island of St Maarten towards international waters shortly after other oligarchs’ yachts were seized.
Abramovich was sanctioned by the US in 2018 but joined the UK list on Thursday morning. A spokesperson for Abramovich said earlier this week: “We never comment on the movements of the yacht or any other vehicles or vessels.”
The 163-metre Eclipse, which includes nine decks, two helipads and a 16-metre swimming pool that can be converted into a dancefloor, is the most expensive vessel owned by individuals on the growing US, EU and UK sanction lists.
Many super-rich Russians – including some not yet on the sanctions list, but with links to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin – appear to be attempting to move their superyachts to countries without formal extradition agreements with western governments.
French and Italian authorities last week seized three yachts worth more than $225m (£170m).
Tracking data from the shipping intelligence service MarineTraffic shows that Titan, a $100m superyacht
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