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Italian authorities seize one of world’s largest superyachts from oligarch

Sailing Yacht A, owned by Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko, seized in Trieste on Friday evening

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news

Italian authorities have seized a €530m (£444m) superyacht owned by Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko as part of EU sanctions following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine .

Sy A – short for Sailing Yacht A – was seized on Friday evening in the port of Trieste after being identified by Italian police as belonging to the billionaire owner of EuroChem Group, a major fertiliser producer, and the coal company SUEK.

Video footage reportedly showed police cars with flashing lights approaching the yacht, said to be one of the largest in the world, and boarding it.

EuroChem and SUEK said in statements on Thursday that Melnichenko had resigned as a member of the board in both companies and withdrawn as their beneficiary, effective on Wednesday.

It comes as Roman Abramovich’s superyacht Solaris was pictured arriving in Tivat, Montenegro, on Saturday. The vessel left a port in Barcelona earlier this week as the UK government imposed sanctions on the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club.

On Thursday, it was tracked off the coast of Sicily after reportedly undergoing repairs earlier in the week in Barcelona, one of a number of apparently hurried sailings of Russian billionaires moving their superyachts to avoid seizure. His other yacht, the more luxurious Eclipse, was on Thursday located to the west of the Canary Islands.

A European Council decision authorising the sanctions against Melnichenko says he was one of 37 business leaders who met with the Russian president after the invasion of Ukraine to talk about the potential economic impact of EU and US sanctions.

Melnichenko, the document states, “belongs to the most influential circle of Russian businesspeople with close connections to the Russian government”.

It adds: “He is therefore involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine.”

A spokesperson for Melnichenko, Alex Andreev, said the businessman had “no relation to the tragic events in Ukraine. He has no political affiliations”.

“There is no justification whatsoever for placing him on the EU sanctions list,” Andreev said. “We will be disputing these baseless and unjustified sanctions, and believe that the rule of law and common sense will prevail.”

Italian authorities have separately seized €143m worth of luxury yachts and villas owned by Russian billionaires in luxury destinations including Lake Como, Sardinia and the Ligurian coast.

Nobiskrug, the manufacturer of Sailing Yacht A, describes the three-mast vessel on its website as “one of the world’s largest and most advanced superyachts” and the “ultimate embodiment of German superyachts built for the 22nd century”. It is almost 143 metres long, the mainmast is 100 metres above the waterline, and the yacht has a gross tonnage of about 12,600.

Other yachts seized by Italian police include Lady M, owned by Alexei Mordashov who, before being blacklisted this week by the EU, was the richest man in Russia. A yacht owned by Gennady Timchenko, another billionaire with close ties to Putin, was also seized.

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How Much Does That Oligarch’s Yacht Actually Cost?

An accounting, down to the hull and the Picassos.

By Kevin Koenig

It’s still yacht season in the Mediterranean, a favorite time of year for paparazzi and close readers of David Geffen’s Instagram . On any given sun-and-Champagne-drenched day, one might see Elon Musk frolicking shirtless on Ari Emanuel’s yacht, or Drake spotted aboard a $660-thousand-per-week superyacht in Saint-Tropez.

But this year, things are a little different. Fewer eye-popping vessels are departing from the ports of Monaco and Portofino, and recent world events have led to a reckoning with just how many of those boats are linked to unsavory money.

After the invasion of Ukraine, more than a dozen yachts owned by people with ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia were seized by European and U.S. authorities. Other such boats have landed in countries like Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, which have a relatively cozy relationship with Russia. (None of the alleged owners replied for comment for this article.)

The seized boats range in size from about 130 feet (about three New York City buses) to about 500 feet (13 buses). At the highest end, they can cost on the order of $600 million, which is what Dilbar, by some measures the world’s largest yacht, reportedly sold for. (Dilbar, which is linked to the oligarch Alisher Usmanov , was seized by Germany in April.)

Since the late 1990s, superyachts have been part of the flashy spending embraced by the ultrarich in Russia. The oligarch Roman Abramovich has personally bought seven (and sold three of them) since his first, trendsetting purchase in 1998, including what was at one time the world’s largest yacht.

Elisabeth Schimpfoessl, a sociologist who wrote “ Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie ,” said that the length-measuring contests that the earliest oligarchs engaged in via yacht have slowed, as they turned their attention to philanthropy and art and trying to outdo one another with cultural sophistication.

“They didn’t want to live that typical flashy superrich lifestyle,” she said, of the “old-money oligarchs,” like Mr. Abramovich. “But they are still buying the yachts.”

One reason for that? The boats — and the mobility they offered — took on a different kind of significance for oligarchs in the wake of 2014 European Union sanctions against Russians that restricted travel, according to Ms. Schimpfoessl.

Yachts were a way for their sanctioned owners to spend time in European countries despite the restrictions; a boat can slip with relative ease from Montenegro to Cannes or Nice. Traveling through ports, she said, “there is much less of a chance that any border control will check in on them.”

Another reason some people own a superyacht is that it’s one of the easiest ways to spend, for those who have the kind of money they can’t get rid of fast enough. One Silicon Valley yacht owner recently told The New Yorker that yachts are the luxury good that can “absorb the most excess capital.”

And the purchase price is just the start. A closer look at an itemized breakdown reveals just how much oligarch money is floating out there.

Below, a back-of-the envelope accounting of how much one superyacht, the kind favored by Russian oligarchs, might cost to buy and operate. The estimates are based on conversations with nearly 20 people working in yacht brokerage, design, security and insurance.

Pay to Play: $9 million

Yacht sales are typically arranged through a broker, found via a handful of companies with offices around the world, in places like Monaco, New York, Fort Lauderdale, Sydney, Dubai, London and Hong Kong. (Russians in particular seem to flock to offices in Monaco .)

Brokers are often former yacht captains who command a fee of about 3 percent of the boat’s cost. So for a boat like the Amadea, a 348-foot-long, $300 million yacht that has been linked to the oligarch Suleiman Kerimo v, the initial broker’s fee would likely have been about $9 million.

That money buys a few things. First, expertise. A broker helps guide a client toward a yacht that will suit their needs, whether they want to mostly anchor in Saint-Tropez or go on an expedition to the Arctic. The broker also connects the buyer with the major shipyards that will build the boat.

Just as important to many yacht owners: Brokers help to provide anonymity, often acting as an owner’s representative. “It all starts with NDAs,” said Mark Elliot, a yacht broker, referring to nondisclosure agreements. The broker, builders and crew all have to sign one. “Lots of these boats are built under different project names to help keep them a secret,” said Mr. Elliot, who works with IYC, a brokerage firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

For instance, Tango, which was seized by Spain at the request of the United States and is owned by Victor Vekselberg, who runs the Russian investment company Renova Group, was bought through shell companies , according to an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

The Sticker Price: $300 million

There are about 100 yachts in the world that are longer than 300 feet, and although ownership is not always clear, SuperYacht Times estimated that at least 18 are owned by Russians. The others belong to various other ultrawealthy people, mostly American and European business moguls and dynastic families, as well as Middle Eastern royalty.

Many of the highest-end boats are built in shipyards in Holland and Germany over the course of several years. The fees for the hundreds of staff and contractors, and the sometimes thousands of subcontractors involved in the construction can add up to nearly half of the sticker price, or, for a $300 million boat like the Amadea, something like $135 million.

On that kind of boat, according to the Super Yacht Group , the steel hull alone can cost about $28 million. The engine room equipment might add up to about $21 million; the deck, $24 million; and the paint coat, $18 million. And that’s for standard paint. In one instance, the late Boris Kogan — a founder of Kaalbye Shipping — painted the 163-foot Thunder using paint that had silver flakes in it .

Keeping Up With the Abramoviches: $60 Million

Then there are the interiors. A designer’s fee might run about $4 million, according to Patrick Knowles, of the Fort Lauderdale interior design firm Patrick Knowles Design.

Mr. Knowles said he knows of one yacht that had a single room — a bar lounge with onyx stone panels, curved glass panels with hand carvings and gold-leaf finishing, and custom gold bar hardware — that cost more than $1 million. The Russian taste in design tends to “skew toward the bold and expressive,” said Mr. Knowles, most of whose clients are American.

Often, there are additional ultraluxury add-ons. Many megayachts include discos ($1.5 million to $2.5 million), movie theaters ($2 million), gyms ($1 million to $1.5 million) and fully ventilated Kevlar-lined safe rooms ($2 million to $3 million). Some billionaires even build their own medical units, complete with doctors and nurses, according to Mr. Knowles.

Yacht interiors, he said, tend to add up to about 20 percent of the upfront cost of the boat.

But that’s not including art. “It’s not unusual for an owner to have a statement piece in the main salon and then perhaps also in the master stateroom,” Mr. Knowles said. “It could be a Matisse, a Picasso — really whatever the owner’s tastes might be.”

He is aware of one yacht, he said, which cost about $40 million and whose artwork onboard exceeded the value of the boat. “The art was delivered to and from the boat in museum-quality, wooden briefcases and under police escort,” he said.

There are more extreme examples, too. The most expensive painting in history, “Salvator Mundi,” by Leonardo da Vinci, bought for $450 million, was reportedly kept on the yacht of its buyer, Mohammed bin Salman . Joe Lewis, a British-born billionaire, was spotted keeping Francis Bacon’s “Triptych 1974-1977” on one of his boats. (Bloomberg estimated its value at $70 million.)

The Dinghies: $80 Thousand and Up

Inside the big boat — literally, inside the hull, like nesting dolls — are often sets of smaller boats, known as tenders, that can cost millions. One megayacht might have a rigid inflatable boat for crew use (starting at about $80,000), a vintage Riva Aquarama — think George Clooney cruising around Italy in a little wooden boat — (starting at $349,000), a custom center-console boat for fishing and diving expeditions (starting at $113,000), and a custom enclosed “limousine” boat that can deliver guests to shore with every hair on their head in place ($2 million and up).

But there is a separate category of yacht “toys” that are often found on other boats that trail the owner’s mega yacht.

Some of these trailing boats are megayachts themselves, like the estimated $60 million, 246-foot “yacht support vessel” that will follow Jeffrey Bezos’s $500 million, 417-foot schooner. Toys aboard a yacht support vessel might include a McLaren car (which have sold at auction for as much as $20 million), a helicopter ($3 million) or an increasingly de rigueur personal submarine ($2.5 million to $4 million), as well as an assortment of more pedestrian-priced toys like Jet Skis, Seabobs, A.T.V.s and underwater scooters.

And a billionaire who wants to catch tuna and marlin might have a fishing boat floating behind that can cost as much as $20 million.

And Then There’s the Upkeep: $30 million a Year

Annual operating costs are about 10 percent of a yacht’s original cost, which for an Amadea-size boat could be $30 million. It’s a lot of logistics to keep track of, and as The New York Times reported this spring, the management companies that oversee all of that for Putin-linked oligarchs are now the targets of investigations.

Docking alone for a 350-foot boat might cost as much as $29,000 a week. That would be more than $750,000 a year, for a boat that’s at sea about half the time.

Fuel can cost a million or so a year, for boats that are just floating in one body of water. Some boats go from Croatia to Sardinia; others go all the way to Antarctica. According to one broker, a very large yacht that crosses from the Mediterranean for the winter to the Caribbean for the summer could run up another $300,000 in fuel.

Crew salaries for a hypothetical 300-footer would be about $3 million annually. Captains on a yacht that size can expect to make around $300,000, and there could be two, working in two-month shifts.

The other 30 to 40 crew members, including chefs, officers, stewards, engineers, boatswains and deckhands, work year round with all expenses paid, often even including offshore bar tabs. Duties largely include sometimes tedious and always unending cleaning and maintenance jobs, as well as guest services that cater to every imaginable whim.

So That’s More Than $400 Million. But What Will It Resell For?

In April, the House of Representatives passed a bill urging the Biden administration to sell oligarchs’ seized or frozen assets in order to fund Ukraine’s war effort with additional military or humanitarian aid, something the White House has said it intended to do.

But what would the yachts sell for on the resale market? It’s unclear. Boats are a famously depreciating asset; the old line is that they are nothing more than a hole in the water into which you throw money. But not for the ultra-wealthy.

Megayachts may not depreciate like other boats, said Scott Stamper, a managing director of the Atlass Insurance Group in Fort Lauderdale. “That’s a reflection of the economy,” he said. “There’s a lot of people with money right now. If it takes three to four years to build a new one, you’re going to pay more for one that you can get right now.”

And yet, the oligarchs’ boats would require very specific buyers. Mr. Abramovich, for instance, has previously sold one boat to an Azerbaijani billionaire with ties to a Siberian energy company, and reportedly lost the 371-foot Le Grand Bleu to another oligarch in a poker game .

“Some of the interiors are outrageous,” said William Smith, a yacht broker with Merle Wood and Associates. “Maybe you get lucky and you find another billionaire with that taste. But if you don’t, you need to spend a lot of money to rip out the interior. It’s easier to build one from scratch.”

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Amadea, a superyacht, docked at the Port of Everett on Monday, April 29, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

How did a Russian oligarch’s seized superyacht end up in Everett?

Worth more than $300 million, the Amadea could soon be up for sale. But first, it came to Everett on Monday.

• Monday, April 29, 2024 1:44pm
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US seizes yacht owned by oligarch with close ties to Putin

A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

Civil Guards accompany U.S. FBI agents and a U.S.Homeland Security agent from the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A U.S. federal agent leaves the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A Civil Guard officer accompanies a U.S.Homeland Security agent and an FBI agent from the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A U.S. federal agent and two Civil Guards board the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

Civil Guards stand by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A U.S. federal agent walks past two Civil Guards on the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

Civil Guards officers accompany identified people from the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A Civil Guard and a police dog walk off the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

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PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) — The U.S. government on Monday seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a first by the Biden administration under sanctions imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and targeting pricey assets of Russian elites .

Spain’s Civil Guard and U.S. federal agents descended on the Tango at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Associated Press reporters at the scene saw police going in and out of the boat.

The U.S. Justice Department, which obtained a warrant from a federal judge in Washington, alleges the yacht should be forfeited for violating U.S. bank fraud, money laundering and sanctions statutes.

Superyachtfan.com, a specialized website that tracks the world’s largest and most exclusive recreational boats, values the 78-meter vessel, which carries the Cook Islands flag, at $120 million.

The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg , a billionaire and close Putin ally who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents.

All of Vekselberg’s assets in the United States are frozen and American companies are barred from doing business with him and his entities. The Ukrainian-born businessman built his fortune by investing in the aluminum and oil industries in the post-Soviet era.

Prosecutors allege Vekselberg bought the Tango in 2011 and has owned it since then, though they believe he has used shell companies to try to obfuscate his ownership and to avoid financial oversight.

They contend Vekselberg and those working for him continued to make payments using U.S. banks to support and maintain the yacht, even after sanctions were imposed on him in 2018. Those payments included a stay in December 2020 at a luxury water villa resort in the Maldives and fees to moor the yacht.

It’s the first U.S. seizure of an oligarch’s yacht since U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assembled a task force known as REPO — short for Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs — as an effort to enforce sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

“It will not be the last.” Garland said in a statement. “Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war.”

Vekselberg has long had ties to the U.S., including a green card he once held and homes in New York and Connecticut. He was also questioned in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has worked closely with his American cousin, Andrew Intrater, who heads the New York investment management firm Columbus Nova.

Vekselberg and Intrater were thrust into the spotlight in that investigation after the lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels released a memo that claimed $500,000 in hush money was routed through Columbus Nova to a shell company set up by Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Columbus Nova denied that Vekselberg played any role in its payments to Cohen.

Vekselberg and Intrater met with Cohen at Trump Tower, one of several meetings between members of Trump’s inner circle and high-level Russians during Trump’s 2016 campaign and the transition before his presidency.

The 64-year-old Vekselberg founded Renova Group more than three decades ago. The group holds the largest stake in United Co. Rusal, Russia’s biggest aluminum producer, among other investments.

Vekselberg was first sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018, and again in March of this year, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began. Vekselberg has also been sanctioned by authorities in the United Kingdom.

The yacht sails under the Cook Islands flag and is owned by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands administered by different societies in Panama, the Civil Guard said, “following a complicated financial and societal web to conceal its truthful ownership.”

Agents confiscated documents and computers inside the yacht that will be analyzed to confirm he real identity of the owner, it said.

The U.S. Justice Department has also launched a sanctions enforcement task force known as KleptoCapture, which also aims to enforce financial restrictions in the U.S. imposed on Russia and its billionaires, working with the FBI, the U.S. Treasury and other federal agencies. That task force will also target financial institutions and entities that have helped oligarchs move money to dodge sanctions.

The White House has said that many allied countries, including German, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and others are involved in trying to collect and share information against Russians targeted for sanctions. In his State of the Union address on March 1, President Joe Biden warned oligarchs that the U.S. and European allies would “find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.”

“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” he said.

Monday’s capture is not the first time Spanish authorities have been involved in the seizure of a Russian oligarch’s superyacht. Officials said they had seized a vessel valued at over $140 million owned by the CEO of a state-owned defense conglomerate and a close Putin ally.

French authorities have seized superyachts, including one believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, which has been on the U.S. sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Italy has seized several yachts and other assets.

Italian financial police moved quickly seizing the superyacht Lena belonging to Gennady Timchenko, an oligarch close to Putin, in the port of San Remo; the 65-meter (215-foot) Lady M owned by Alexei Mordashov in nearby Imperia, featuring six suites and estimated to be worth 65 million euros; as well as villas in Tuscany and Como, according to government officials.

Parra reported from Madrid and Balsamo reported from Washington.

U.S. seizes mega yacht owned by oligarch with close ties to Putin

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain — The U.S. government seized a mega yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Russian president on Monday, the first in the government’s sanctions enforcement initiative to “seize and freeze” giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites .

Spain’s Civil Guard and U.S. federal agents descended on the yacht at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Associated Press reporters at the scene saw police going in and out of the boat on Monday morning.

The seizure was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter. The people could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. A Spanish Civil Guard spokesman confirmed that officers from the Spanish police body and from the FBI were at the marina searching the vessel Monday morning and said further details would be released later.

A Civil Guard source told The Associated Press that the immobilized yacht is Tango, a 78-meter (254-feet) vessel that carries Cook Islands flag and that  Superyachtfan.com , a specialized website that tracks the world’s largest and most exclusive recreational boats, values at $120 million. The source was also not authorized to be named in media reports and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities.

The move is the first time the U.S. government has seized an oligarch’s yacht since Attorney General Merrick Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assembled a task force known as REPO — short for Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs — as an effort to enforce sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

Vekselberg has long had ties to the U.S. including a green card he once held and homes in New York and Connecticut. The Ukrainian-born businessman built his fortune by investing in the aluminum and oil industries in the post-Soviet era.

Vekselberg was also questioned in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has worked closely with his American cousin, Andrew Intrater, who heads the New York investment management firm Columbus Nova.

Vekselberg and Intrater were thrust into the spotlight in the Mueller probe after the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels released a memo that claimed $500,000 in hush money was routed through Columbus Nova to a shell company set up by Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Columbus Nova denied that Vekselberg played any role in its payments to Cohen.

Vekselberg and Intrater met with Cohen at Trump Tower, one of several meetings between members of Trump’s inner circle and high-level Russians during the 2016 campaign and transition.

The 64-year-old mogul founded Renova Group more than three decades ago. The group holds the largest stake in United Co. Rusal, Russia’s biggest aluminum producer, among other investments.

Vekselberg was first sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018, and again in March of this year, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began. Vekselberg has also been sanctioned by authorities in the United Kingdom.

The U.S. Justice Department has also launched a sanctions enforcement task force known as KleptoCapture , which also aims to enforce financial restrictions in the U.S. imposed on Russia and its billionaires, working with the FBI, Treasury and other federal agencies. That task force will also target financial institutions and entities that have helped oligarchs move money to dodge sanctions.

The White House has said that many allied countries, including German, the U.K, France, Italy and others are involved in trying to collect and share information against Russians targeted for sanctions. In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden warned oligarch that the U.S. and European allies would “find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.”

“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” he said.

Wednesday’s capture is not the first time Spanish authorities have been involved in the seizure of a Russian oligarch’s superyacht. Officials there said they had seized a vessel valued at over $140 million owned by the CEO of a state-owned defense conglomerate and a close Putin ally.

French authorities have also seized superyachts, including one believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, which has been on the U.S. sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Italy has also seized several yachts and other assets.

Italian financial police moved quickly seizing the superyacht “Lena” belonging to Gennady Timchenko, an oligarch close to Putin, in the port of San Remo; the 65-meter (215-foot) “Lady M” owned by Alexei Mordashov in nearby Imperia, featuring six suites and estimated to be worth 65 million euros; as well as villas in Tuscany and Como, according to government officials.

Para reported from Madrid and Balsamo reported from Washington.

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A Russian oligarch's $325M superyacht has been seized in Fiji

The Associated Press

The superyacht Amadea is docked at the Queens Wharf in Lautoka, Fiji, on April 15. The vessel, which U.S. authorities say is owned by a Russian oligarch previously sanctioned for alleged money laundering, has been seized by law enforcement in Fiji, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday. Leon Lord/Fiji Sun via AP, File hide caption

The superyacht Amadea is docked at the Queens Wharf in Lautoka, Fiji, on April 15. The vessel, which U.S. authorities say is owned by a Russian oligarch previously sanctioned for alleged money laundering, has been seized by law enforcement in Fiji, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday.

WASHINGTON — A superyacht that American authorities say is owned by a Russian oligarch previously sanctioned for alleged money laundering has been seized by law enforcement in Fiji, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday.

A judge in Fiji earlier in the week permitted U.S. authorities to seize the yacht Amadea — worth $325 million — but also put his order temporarily on hold while defense lawyers mounted a challenge.

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The Justice Department said authorities in Fiji, acting at the request of the United States, have now served a search warrant freezing the yacht, which had earlier been prevented from leaving the South Pacific nation.

American officials say the 348-foot vessel belongs to Suleiman Kerimov , an economist and former Russian politician who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018 and has faced further censure from Canada, Europe, Britain and other nations after Russia invaded Ukraine.

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Kerimov made a fortune investing in Russian gold producer Polyus, with Forbes magazine putting his net worth at $14.5 billion.

Defense lawyers had claimed the yacht actually belonged to another Russian oligarch.

In an application in support of the search warrant, an FBI agent wrote that there was probable cause to believe that Kerimov had owned the Amadea since 2021. The vessel, which is flagged in the Cayman Islands, had turned off its automated information system on Feb. 24, the day Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

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A russian oligarch's $90 million yacht is seized as part of u.s. sanctions.

The Justice Department said the seizure was coordinated by its KleptoCapture task force , which was created in March to seize assets belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarchs. In April, the Justice Department seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the latest seizure "should make clear that there is no hiding place for the assets of individuals who violate U.S. laws. And there is no hiding place for the assets of criminals who enable the Russian regime."

The Justice Department said the yacht is now in Lautoka, Fiji.

Watch CBS News

U.S. seizes mega yacht owned by oligarch who's close to Putin

By Robert Legare

Updated on: April 5, 2022 / 9:24 AM EDT / CBS News

Washington  — American and Spanish law enforcement agents took control of the mega yacht Tango anchored in the luxurious Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca on Monday after the U.S. Justice Department obtained a warrant for the $90-million vessel's seizure.

The warrant and subsequent raid targeted Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who was sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2018 and again last month following Russia's deadly invasion of Ukraine. The financial penalties blocked the billionaire from participating in the U.S. economy and prevented him from utilizing American banks to conduct business transactions. 

According to the Justice Department's warrant , dating as far back as 2011, Vekselberg and other unnamed conspirators attempted to avoid detection in the U.S. by paying for the yacht through shell companies and other money laundering techniques. 

"Vekselberg and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused U.S. dollar transactions for the Tango to be sent through U.S. financial institutions, after a time which Vekselberg was designated by the Treasury Department," the warrant unsealed Monday alleges.

The Tango, designed and built exclusively for the oligarch, who has an estimated net worth of $6 billion, had been sent to Spain for repair. Investigators say the Spanish government then alerted the Justice Department to its whereabouts on March 13. 

Prosecutors in Spain obtained a "freezing" order on the vessel, paving the way for FBI and other American law enforcement agents to seize the ship. 

Monday's operation was part of the Justice Department's new Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement group aimed at holding sanctioned Russian elites accountable, as Russia continues its aggressive invasion of Ukraine. 

"Today marks our task force's first seizure of an asset belonging to a sanctioned individual with close ties to the Russian regime. It will not be the last," Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday. "Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war."

The Associated Press noted 64-year-old Vekselberg, who was born in Ukraine, has long had ties to the U.S., including a green card he once held and homes in New York and Connecticut. He's the main owner of the Renova Group, a global conglomerate he founded 30 years ago which is based in Moscow with major assets in mining, technology and utilities. He has stakes in several technology companies and in Rusal, Russia's biggest aluminum producer.

Vekselberg and his cousin, Andrew Intrater, were investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller after the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels released a memo that claimed $500,000 in hush money was routed through Columbus Nova, an investment company run by Intrater and reportedly affiliated with Renova , to a shell company set up by former President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, according to the Associated Press. Columbus Nova denied that Vekselberg, who was Intrater's biggest investor, played any role in its payments to Cohen. Vekselberg and Intrater met with Cohen at Trump Tower, one of several meetings between members of Trump's inner circle and high-level Russians during the 2016 campaign and transition. Mueller did not mention Vekselberg or Intrater in his final report.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that neither Vekselberg nor Intrater were mentioned in special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, as well as to note some of Vekselberg's other holdings.  

Robert Legare is a CBS News multiplatform reporter and producer covering the Justice Department, federal courts and investigations. He was previously an associate producer for the "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell."

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Insiders still have no idea what's going to happen to Russian oligarchs' seized superyachts

• It's been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, leading to sanctions against Russian oligarchs.
• Many of their superyachts were seized or frozen , leading industry insiders to question their fate.
• The yachts, some of which are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, remain in a state of limbo.

More than two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the boating world still doesn't have many answers about what's going on with the very large, expensive elephants in the sea: oligarchs' superyachts .

The war prompted many governments to enact sanctions against Russia's richest , including seizing their superyachts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But it's unclear whether they can be sold or who'd buy them, leaving ports peppered with massive boats stuck in a floating limbo.

"The Russian problem, it's becoming a bigger and bigger and bigger problem," one luxury yacht broker told Business Insider at the Palm Beach International Boat Show last week. Like many others, he requested not to be named, given the sensitive nature of the matter at hand and the generally discreet nature of the industry.

Russia has been a massive player in the massive boat market for a long time. In August 2021 — about six months before Russia's Ukraine invasion — Russians owned the second-largest share of yachts over 40 meters in length, according to a report from the industry publication SuperYacht Times.

They were responsible for 16% of new build superyacht purchases in the decade preceding the report and are known for splashing out on extravagant interiors and unique features. (One builder BI spoke to recalled a mandate from an oligarch for a large safe in the owner's cabin in which he could keep his rifles. The builder later learned he'd use them to skeet shoot on deck.)

But those sales have now screeched to a halt as oligarchs get hit by international sanctions. At least a dozen superyachts — worth well over $1 billion combined — have been affected.

And no one is quite sure what will happen to them.

Russia's sanctioned superyachts are hard to buy and sell

The first problem is that many of the yachts are "frozen" — not seized. That means that although the Russian owners can't operate or collect them, they don't technically belong to an overseas government, so they can't be sold without special permission.

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors petitioned a judge asking for consent to sell the Amadea, the 106-meter superyacht that has been docked in San Diego and costs the US as much as $922,000 a month to maintain.

"I've had some inquiries, but all you can tell them is we don't know the outcome yet" of the case, another superyacht broker told BI at the yacht show.

And despite the broker's claim of interest in yachts like Amadea , most ultrarich — or at least their brokers — don't want to go near the vessels with a ten-foot pole, even if the government does get legal permission to sell them.

"How does it look if you bought a Russian boat?" Julia Simpson, a broker at Thompson of Monaco, said. "Even if it's completely legal and normal, there are too many things on the line," she said, like how the original owner got their money and whether that could make the new buyer look bad.

There are also possible legal implications, as it's hard for the government to prove who actually owns the yachts.

"Oligarchs typically structure their ownership of these high-value assets through a web of offshore shell companies and trusts that is designed to conceal the true owner," Joshua Naftalis, a former federal prosecutor who now works for Pallas Partners, told BI.

And if the government does assume ownership, it's highly dependent on court orders. For example, a Russian whose yacht had been seized by the French government regained access to his boat after winning a legal battle in 2022.

"It's a very difficult process to buy them," Ralph Dazert, the head of intelligence at SuperYacht Times, told BI. "There is a high risk of the former (Russian) owner suing you to get the boat back."

He pointed to the Alfa Nero, the 82-meter yacht that Eric Schmidt planned to purchase for $67 million last year in an auction put on by Antigua and Barbuda. He backed out after various parties tried to block the sale, likely deeming it not worth the legal headache.

"When the reason for sanctioning goes away, which it may do," the Russian owners will try to get their boats back , Simpson said. After all, "the government's not going to pay them."'

That said, if sanctions are dropped, the yachts will be worth much less than when they were seized, as a boat not in use deteriorates much faster than one sailing the seas.

"Those yachts need to be used to be kept in shape, kept in condition," the second broker said. "Just having them sit at the dock with a temporary crew on board is not good for the boats."

And the sanctioned Russians who have managed to maintain control of their superyachts won't have an easy time offloading them in the future.

Americans who try to do business with sanctioned oligarchs would have a number of hoops to jump through — like finding a bank to process the purchase, which would be next to impossible. If somehow they did and the government caught wind, they'd face hefty penalties and the transaction would be void.

So Russia's richest have found themselves "stuck" sailing in a select few countries that will let them, like the Maldives, Montenegro, and Dubai.

If you enjoyed this story, be sure to follow Business Insider on Microsoft Start.

Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg spend six figures a year maintaining their superyachts. Here's how.

• Superyachts  are one of the most expensive assets money can buy.
• The true cost of ownership is even more, adding up to millions a year.
• Here's how much it costs to own a superyacht — and what that money is going toward.

Financial advisors are quick to warn prospective owners that a boat is nothing more than a hole in the water in which to throw money. When it comes to superyachts , you'd better have bags and bags of cash.

As one luxury agent told Business Insider at the Palm Beach International Boat Show: "Buying a boat, it's a huge purchase — and nobody needs a yacht."

A superyacht, generally over 30 meters long, is one of the most expensive assets money can buy, with the largest costing more than a lot of real estate or a private jet. Billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs each spent nine figures on their megayachts.

That doesn't include operating costs. Owners should expect to pay about 10% of a yacht's new-build price each year, experts told Business Insider. That's tens of millions of dollars annually for the most luxurious boats.

"It's a small-to-medium-sized business in its own right," said Jeffrey Beneville, a senior vice president at insurance company NFP, where he specializes in consulting clients about yachts.

Unlike many smaller boats, superyachts need staff, not just a captain. Some superyachts have space for dozens of crewmembers , including a chef, engineer, and masseuse for the guests onboard. Each gets an annual salary — the highest-ranking members earn six figures — and benefits. Eric Schmidt's yacht fits a crew of 28 for a ratio of about two crewmembers per guest.

Then there's fuel, dockage fees, routine maintenance, and insurance. The latter hinges on everything from the reputation of a yacht's shipyard to where an owner wants to take it (if a vessel is taking frequent trips to the South China Sea, for example, expect to pay a higher premium). If a superyacht has a support yacht — or a support superyacht, in Bezos ' case — expect to pay another 10% of that boat's price annually.

"The cost to maintain a yacht is so high that they just think that money's getting lit on fire," Matthew Fleissig, the CEO of wealth management firm Pathstone, told BI of his clients who choose to charter rather than own.

One of his firm's clients who does own has a 23-meter yacht valued at $5.2 million. The annual cost to staff, maintain, dock, and insure the boat is $346,297, according to documentation provided to BI. The lion's share is spent on marina fees ($95,970) and maintenance work ($88,408.) While not exactly a Sunfish, that boat is too small to count as a superyacht.

At 106 meters, the Amadea, owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch , definitely does. The $300 million yacht, which was seized in 2022 and is docked in San Diego, cost $922,000 a month to maintain, a court filing showed: $360,000 for crew salaries, $75,000 for fuel, $144,000 for insurance, $178,000 in dry-docking fees, and $165,000 for maintenance, waste removal, food for the crew, and miscellaneous expenses.

"And that's an inactive yacht that's in the water," NFP's Beneville said.

If it were operational and carrying guests, the costs would be about twice that, or between $20 million and $30 million a year, he added.

Of course, it makes more financial sense for the non-obsessives to charter, and many of Fleissig's clients do. And some owners choose to offer their yachts for charter — the most luxurious cost as much as $1 million a week — to offset the costs.

"If you charter the boat for 50 days a year, it's going to help a lot," Anders Kurtén, the CEO of brokerage firm Fraser Yachts, told BI.

Then again, the running costs don't matter as much at a certain point. "If you're worth $30 billion, it's nothing. And if you're worth $117 billion — and these are the guys we're talking about — they're in it as long as it's still enjoyable for them," Beneville said. "It's not a money thing."

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The Saga of Clarence Thomas and His Luxury RV Takes a Disturbing Turn

In a new letter, democratic senators press the associate justice on whether he’s paid off the loan for that famous r.v.—and whether he may have ducked federal tax obligations..

Faced with a barrage of ethics scandals that have tarred the Supreme Court as riddled with corruption, Justice Clarence Thomas has sought to cast them as merely an outgrowth of politics in Washington, D.C. “It’s a hideous place,” Thomas said recently of the nation’s capital, in some of his most extensive remarks about his ethical lapses, noting that he’s been subject to “nastiness” and “lies.” Thomas added, “It’s one of the reasons we like R.V.ing.”

So it’s fitting that the latest sordid turn in these sagas involves none other than Thomas’s recreational vehicle, that symbol of his yearning to escape Washington to mingle with reg’lar folk who don’t subject each other to the viciousness he faces in the capital.

Thomas is still refusing to reveal whether he repaid the principal on the $267,000 loan that he received from Anthony Welters, a wealthy health care executive and personal friend, to purchase his R.V. in 1999, according to a letter that Senators Ron Wyden and Sheldon Whitehouse have sent to an attorney for Thomas.

Thomas also has yet to say whether the loan’s principal was forgiven by the lender, the Democrats argue in the letter, which was obtained by The New Republic. If it was forgiven all or in part, the senators say, it could constitute “a significant amount of taxable income” that should be reported on federal tax returns.

“Your client’s refusal to clarify how the loan was resolved raises serious concerns regarding violations of federal tax laws,” the senators write. Wyden chairs the Finance Committee, and Whitehouse chairs the Judiciary Committee’s panel on federal courts, both of which are spearheading an investigation of Supreme Court ethics scandals.

The tale involving this R.V. constitutes one of the higher-profile instances of Thomas potentially accepting a form of income from wealthy benefactors, resulting in a drumbeat of stories that have shaken the court. Though Thomas’s frequent depiction of his Prevost Marathon R.V. (which he purchased used) as a sign of his affection for salt-of-the-earth leisure activities appears sincere, it’s also a luxury vehicle and an extremely pricey asset, perhaps comparable to a medium-size yacht.

The whole saga began when The New York Times revealed last summer that Thomas had purchased the R.V. in 1999 for $267,230 with financing from Welters that Thomas almost certainly could not have obtained from a bank, as experts told the Times.

In response to the paper’s questions, Welters—a longtime friend who grew up poor, as Thomas did, and went on to amass a reported $80 million fortune in the health care industry—would say only that the loan was “satisfied.” As the Times noted, this doesn’t mean the loan was paid back.

Thomas also has not been forthcoming, the Democrats say. Since the Times story broke, Wyden’s Finance Committee has sought information about the loan and, through Welters’s cooperation, has obtained a limited number of documents related to it. As the committee announced last fall , those materials showed only that Thomas had paid back some of the interest and appeared to reveal that, in 2008, Welters forgave most or all of the principal of the loan.

But Thomas did not report this on his 2008 Financial Disclosure Report, the committee said , and in response to the committee’s questions, he has not clarified whether he reported any of that money as income on tax filings.

Which brings us to the present. The senators have been pressing Thomas’s lawyer, Elliot Berke, to provide additional detail on the forgiven loan, and last month, Berke responded with a letter. But once again, the letter—which TNR viewed—offered little additional clarity. It said Thomas “made all payments” on a “regular basis until the terms of the agreement were satisfied in full” and that he’s complied with judicial disclosure requirements.

That avoids detailing what those terms were, whether the payments were merely for interest—as opposed to paying off the loan’s principal—and whether the arrangement ended up forgiving much or all of that principal. If so, it would functionally constitute a large chunk of taxable income, Wyden argued.

“This raises the question of whether this justice is in compliance with federal tax law, which requires a disclosure of forgiven debt and taxable income,” Wyden told me. “The central question is: Did he ever repay the principal?”

The senators’ new letter demands more information on all those fronts. Berke, Thomas’s lawyer, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

This raises important issues even if there is no suggestion whatsoever that this particular money impacted any Thomas rulings or that Welters himself had any business before the court. We should expect such transparency from judges because we deserve to know what sort of financial interests could conceivably motivate those who issue rulings that shape our lives, and because judges should serve as models of upholding rules and laws upon which the integrity of the system rests, notes Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

“We subject all federal judges—including the justices—to financial disclosure rules because we are worried about even the appearance that they are deciding cases in ways that are consistent with their financial interests,” Vladeck said, stressing that the Democrats are raising legitimate questions about Thomas.

“We want judges and justices who are participating in the system and not subverting it,” Vladeck added, and thus “lead by example.”

After ProPublica revealed that Thomas accepted an extraordinary array of luxury trips and vacations from billionaire and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow without disclosing them, Thomas defended his conduct. He claimed that “colleagues” advised him that “hospitality from close personal friends” is “not reportable,” but ethics experts sharply dispute this and insist such disclosure is required.

That aside, as The New Republic ’s Matt Ford argues , Thomas has made it clear he views all this mainly as a public relations problem and demonstrates little concern for any need to demonstrate ethical propriety, thus making him partly responsible for the questions and the “nastiness” that continue to dog him.

Wyden seconds the point. Thomas could simply be more forthcoming about the R.V. loan, he says, thus demonstrating both that he respects the need to maintain appearances and that he’s in compliance with income tax filing requirements.

“We’re giving the justice the opportunity to clear this huge mess up,” Wyden told me. “Nobody in this country is above the law. Not even Supreme Court justices.”

Greg Sargent is a staff writer at The New Republic .

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Another Russian exodus: Many who fled to Turkey move on again

• Medium Text

• Many Russians fled to Turkey after Ukraine war began
• Some opposed the war, some wanted to escape sanctions
• Turkey retains cordial ties with Russia despite war
• Data shows more Russians are now leaving Turkey
• Reasons include soaring inflation, residency issues

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Russian drones struck energy sites in Ukraine early on Wednesday and knocked out power to over 500,000 consumers in the northern Sumy region, officials said.

Orcas again sink yacht near Strait of Gibraltar as high-risk season looms

Two people were rescued after orcas hit the roughly 50-foot Alboran Cognac 14 miles off the coast of Morocco, the 26th orca encounter in the region this year.

The boat-sinking orcas are back.

Around 9 a.m. Sunday near the Strait of Gibraltar, two people on board the roughly 50-foot Alboran Cognac reported blows to the vessel’s hull and saw damage to the rudder as water flowed into the ship, Spain’s maritime rescue agency said.

An unknown number of killer whales had struck again, after hundreds of such encounters in recent years.

Over the radio, responders told the two individuals to put on their life jackets, make sure their GPS locaters were turned on and prepare for emergency evacuation. In the meantime, Spanish and Moroccan rescue agencies began urgently working to save them, locating a nearby oil tanker and electing not to dispatch a helicopter.

After about an hour, that tanker rescued the pair 14 miles off Cape Spartel in northern Morocco, the Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Agency (SASEMAR) said in a news release. The boat was left adrift and soon sank.

Spain-based Alboran Charter confirmed its ownership of the sunken vessel and said the individuals were customers. The company declined to say more about what happened or who the clients were.

Iberian orcas sinking a ship is not new. Over the past four years, at least 15 orcas have interacted with hundreds of boats sailing in the waters off Portugal, Spain and Morocco, sinking a handful of vessels in seemingly coordinated ambushes. Some ships have been found with teeth marks; others appear to have been rammed by an orca’s head or body.

On average, there have been 168 interactions each year since 2020, according to Grupo de Trabajo Orca Atlántica, or GTOA, a research group studying the region’s killer whales. GTOA has tracked 26 interactions so far this year, down from 61 through a similar time frame in 2023.

It’s not clear why the orcas have recently bumped, bitten and sunk vessels. Some scientists say they are simply being playful, or maybe are curious, or perhaps are coming after boats because of a loss of prey. A handful say the actions could actually be gratifying to the whales.

A leading theory, though, is one of vengeance.

This idea, advanced by a scientist who has studied the encounters, posits that a female orca suffered a traumatic run-in with a boat that led her to start attacking the vessels. And because orcas are intelligent marine mammals that learn behaviors like hunting together, others followed.

But there is disagreement over this theory.

Some scientists argue that the incidents shouldn’t be called “attacks” without knowing the whales’ motives. They fear that label could prompt retaliation by boaters, calling it potentially “harmful” to the critically endangered species with just a few dozen members.

“Science cannot yet explain why the Iberian orcas are doing this, although we repeat that it is more likely related to play/socialising than aggression,” a group of more than 30 scientists wrote in an open letter last summer. “ … When we are at sea, we are in the realm of marine life. We should not punish wildlife for being wild.”

The letter explained that orcas have been observed developing “cultural ‘fads,’” including carrying dead fish on their heads, and the incidents with the boats may be nothing more than a “fashion trend.”

SASEMAR warned that the risk of the encounters is highest between May and August, recommending that boats avoid the area between the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Cádiz to its west. It added that if a boat comes across orcas, it should not stop moving, and instead should head toward the coast and shallower waters. People should not approach the side of the boat and are barred from using measures that could injure or kill the whales.

“It is possible the behaviour, as previous fads have,” the scientists wrote, “will disappear as suddenly as it appeared.”

Ukraine war latest: Armed ship destroyed in Crimea, Kyiv says; controversial US television host launches show in Russia

Ukraine says it hit and destroyed the Russian missile ship Tsiklon in Crimea over the weekend. Meanwhile, analysts say Moscow is seeking to draw out Kyiv's forces - as Putin makes another significant change to his cabinet.

Tuesday 21 May 2024 23:00, UK

• Kyiv claims it has destroyed last Russian warship armed with cruise missiles in Crimea
• Tucker Carlson launches new show in Russia
• Putin sacks minister in new sign of shift in war strategy
• European country now pushing to let Ukraine strike deep into Russia with Western weapons
• Russia using 'understaffed and incohesive forces' in bid to draw out Ukrainian troops
• Big picture: What you need to know as war enters new week

We're pausing our coverage of the Ukraine war for the moment.

Scroll through the blog below to catch up on today's developments.

Vladimir Putin has praised the late president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and said he was a "reliable partner".

Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border over the weekend along with his foreign minister and seven others.

Speaking on the leader, Mr Putin said he was "a man of his word" who carried out any agreements the pair made.

"He was truly a reliable partner, a man sure of himself, who acted in the national interest," Russian news agencies quoted Mr Putin as telling Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia's lower house of parliament.

"He was, of course, a man of his word and it was always good to work with him. What I mean is if we came to an agreement on something, you could be sure the agreement was carried out."

The Kremlin leader asked Mr Volodin, who will be attending memorial events in Iran, to pass on "words of our sincere condolences in connection with this tragedy".

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has strengthened political, trade and military ties with Iran in a deepening relationship that the US and Israel view with concern.

Heavy fighting in the Pokrovsk area in eastern Ukraine has forced Ukrainian troops to engage in "manoeuvres," the Ukrainian military's general staff have said.

Their report said Pokrovsk, northwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk, remains the front's "hottest" sector.

"In some areas, the situation requires our troops to engage in manoeuvres," the general staff report reads.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has referred to the region and adjacent areas as "extraordinarily difficult" in his nightly video address.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said allies are taking too long when it comes to decisions on military support for Ukraine.

In an interview with Reuters, the Ukrainian leader said every decision which everyone came to was "late by around one year".

"But it is what it is: one big step forward, but before that two steps back. So we need to change the paradigm a little bit," he said.

"When we're quick, they fall behind. And then there's a gap - six, eight months of unpassed (aid) packages, and then two-three months of supplies - and a year goes by. We would like not to lose the advantage."

Mr Zelenskyy also said Ukraine had never used Western weapons on Russian territory.

A senior Russian diplomat has said that the EU plan to channel profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine would have "unpredictable" consequences, according to the TASS news agency.

According to TASS, Kirill Logvinov, Russia's acting permanent representative to the EU in Brussels, told Russia journalists: "The only predictable thing is that those in the EU will be obliged sooner or later to return to our country what has been stolen."

For context : In March the European Commission proposed transferring to Ukraine profits generated by Russian central bank assets frozen in Europe.

The plan would see 90% channeled through the European Peace Facility fund to buy weapons for Ukraine. 

The rest would be used for recovery and reconstruction.

Russia's defence ministry has said it has begun a round of drills involving tactical nuclear weapons. 

The exercises were announced by Russian authorities this month in response to remarks by senior Western officials about the possibility of deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.

It was the first time Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, although its strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises.

According to the ministry's statement, the first stage of the new drills include nuclear-capable Kinzhal and Iskander missiles.

The maneuvers are taking place in the southern military district, which consists of Russian regions in the south.

A Moscow court has ordered a Russian journalist who covered the trials of the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and other dissidents must  remain in custody pending an investigation and trial on charges of extremism.

Antonina Favorskaya was arrested in March. 

She is accused of collecting material, producing and editing videos and publications for Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which had been outlawed as extremist by Russian authorities, according to court officials.

Today, Moscow's Basmanny district court ordered that she remain in custody until at least 3 August.

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's spokeswoman, said earlier that Ms Favorskaya did not publish anything on the foundation's platforms and suggested that Russian authorities have targeted her because she was doing her job as a journalist.

Former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson has launched his own show in Russia.

The controversial US media personality, who this year became the first Western journalist to interview Vladimir Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine, will host his show on the state-owned Russia 24 (Rossiya 24).

In the first episode, Carlson will discuss the dangers of ticks and Lyme disease.

Who is Carlson?

Carlson, who has been a vocal supporter of Mr Putin in the past, was sacked from Fox News in April last year.

He took up the prime-time weekday evenings spot on Fox News in 2016 with his show Tucker Carlson Tonight, and quickly established himself as a key player in the network and an influential voice in Republican politics.

The presenter often embraced conspiracy theories and far-right issues. He repeatedly questioned the efficacy of COVID vaccines and compared mandates to "Nazi experiments".

While he found success with viewers, his inflammatory comments caused some advertisers to distance themselves from the programme.

After his departure from Fox News he rebooted his show on X last year, calling Elon Musk's site the last big remaining platform to allow free speech.

Ukraine says it has destroyed the last Russian warship armed with cruise missiles that was stationed on the occupied peninsula of Crimea.

It comes after we reported earlier comments by Ukraine's military, which said they had hit the Russian missile ship Tsiklon (see post at 3.09pm).

Ukraine's military reported conducting a long-range attack that destroyed the Russian minesweeping navy vessel on Sunday and said it needed more time to confirm what else had been damaged.

"According to updated information, the Ukrainian defence forces hit a Russian project 22800 Tsiklon missile ship in Sevastopol, on the night of 19 May," the general staff said today.

The Ukrainian navy later said on X that the vessel had been "destroyed".

Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said the Tsiklon was Russia's "last cruise missile carrier" based on the peninsula.

Tsiklon never fired a cruise missile while on active service, Mr Pletenchuk said in televised comments.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 and is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters at Sevastopol.

The Russian defence ministry has not commented.

European Union countries say they have reached an agreement to use the profits from frozen Russian assets to provide military support to Ukraine and help rebuild the war-torn country.

The 27-nation EU is holding around €210bn (£179bn) in Russian central bank assets, most of it frozen in Belgium, in retaliation for Moscow's war against Ukraine.

It estimates that the interest on that money could provide around €3bn (£2.56bn) each year.

Ukraine is desperate for more weapons and ammunition as Russia presses its military advantage.

EU headquarters said 90% of the money would be put into a special fund known as the European Peace Facility that many EU countries already use to get reimbursed for arms and ammunition they send to Ukraine.

The other 10% would be put into the EU budget. The programmes that this money funds would help to bolster Ukraine's defence industry or to help with reconstruction, should some countries object to their share being used for military purposes.

A small group of member states, notably Hungary, refuse to supply weapons to Ukraine.

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