Berlin Twelve suites, two helipads, sauna and beauty salon included – the “Dilbar” is considered one of the most luxurious yachts in the world. She is currently in the port of Hamburg. And she probably won’t be able to leave him any time soon either.
According to several media reports, its owner is the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. Born in Uzbek, he is the founder of USM Holdingsgesellschaft. It includes companies from the steel, mining, IT and telecommunications sectors.
Usmanov’s net worth is estimated at between $15 billion and $19 billion by various sources. According to Forbes, the “Dilbar” alone is valued at 540 million euros and has been in the Blohm & Voss shipyard for repair work since October.
Usmanov has been on the European Union’s sanctions list since the beginning of the week. Like many other oligarchs and businessmen close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
For example Alexei Mordashov: Italy has now confiscated the luxury yacht of the Russian oligarch and Tui major shareholder. The police seized the 65 million euro yacht “Lady M” on Friday in the Ligurian port of Imperia “in line with the latest EU sanctions”, said government adviser Ferdinando Giugliano on Twitter.
According to Italian media reports, the yacht “Lena” belonging to the oligarch Gennady Timchenko was also confiscated in Sanremo. In a statement on Monday, Mordashov denied any responsibility for the Ukraine war. “I have absolutely nothing to do with the current geopolitical tensions and I don’t understand why the EU has sanctioned me,” he wrote.
The US magazine “Forbes” and other media report that the “Dilbar” in Hamburg has also been officially confiscated. The Hamburg Authority for Economics and Innovation denies this. “As far as we know, the yacht has not been confiscated,” said the spokeswoman for the Economic Authority on Thursday. So far there is no such arrangement.
However, the non-party Economics Senator Michael Westhagemann declared on Tuesday that Russian yachts could not simply leave the port of Hamburg. “All goods going out to Russia have to be applied for at customs.
That also applies to the yachts, and that’s why no yacht goes out.” A statement that further fueled the speculation about the confiscation. But it is not that simple.
As the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” learned from official circles, the ownership situation must first be clarified. Especially in the scene of the super-rich, they like to be veiled and yachts are registered in tax havens via holding companies or letterbox companies.
Putin brings his own yacht to Kaliningrad
In the case of “Dilbar”, a holding company in Malta is officially registered as the owner, reports the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. German authorities now want to find a trail to Usmanov from there so that a seizure is legally secured.
Until February, Putin’s yacht was in the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg.
(Photo: imago images/TheYachtPhoto.com)
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, played it safe a long time ago. His yacht was also in the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg until February, writes the “Bild” newspaper. As the paper further reports, he is said to have had the “Graceful” brought out of the shipyard and to Kaliningrad before the war of aggression.
Russian luxury boats are also stuck in other countries. In France, French customs have confiscated a ship said to belong to a company in which Rosneft boss Igor Sechin is the main shareholder. The yacht “Amore Vero” was taken to a shipyard in the port of La Ciotat near Marseille for repairs, where it was confiscated on Thursday night, the French Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
At the beginning of the customs inspection, the ship wanted to set sail and thus violated the applicable regulations. France’s Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire also announced that he intends to confiscate the possessions of sanctioned Russians in France.
He will create the necessary legal conditions for this. In addition, they are currently working on a list of the assets, real estate, yachts and luxury vehicles of Russians in France, which are already subject to sanctions, it is said. “We will also identify all Russian individuals with assets in France who could still be put on the European sanctions list because of their close ties to the Russian government,” Le Maire wrote on Twitter.
A similar announcement also came from US President Joe Biden. In his State of the Union address, he announced that assets would be traced and confiscated. He wants to increase the pressure on Putin’s environment. To this end, the USA, together with the EU Commission, Canada, France, Italy and Germany, are forming an international task force.
Quite a few of the super-rich are therefore trying to accommodate their ships elsewhere in order to prevent the authorities from accessing them. According to data from the website “Marine Traffic”, which the US broadcaster CNBC evaluated, at least four ships were brought to “safety” by their owners close to Putin.
One of them is the Russian steel magnate Viktor Rashnikov. His 140 meter yacht “Ocean Victory” is currently sailing off the Maldives. Just like the “Cleo” that belongs to Oleg Deripaska, founder of the aluminum concern Rusal.
Vagit Alekperov, head of the oil company Lukoil, whose 70-meter yacht “Galactica Super Nova” was still in Barcelona until recently, has now been sighted in Montenegro. The leading network against corruption there, MANS, then criticized that the small Adriatic state should not become “a place for hidden oligarch property”.
With agency material
This text first appeared in the Tagesspiegel
More: German authorities want to confiscate the oligarchs’ mega yachts