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Roman Abramovich’s $1bn five-yacht fleet revealed

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Robert Smith , Cynthia O’Murchu and Arash Massoudi in London and Max Seddon in Riga

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich owns or is linked to a collection of five yachts estimated to be worth almost $1bn, including several vessels whose ownership remained secret until this week.

A Financial Times investigation into the billionaire’s assets has lifted the veil of secrecy he maintains over his wealth, even after the UK and EU imposed sanctions on him following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for his allegedly close relationship with President Vladimir Putin.

Authorities in the UK and EU are attempting to identify all of the assets owned by sanctioned oligarchs. Abramovich was already widely reported to be the owner of Solaris and Eclipse — worth $474mn and $437mn, respectively, according to yacht data service VesselsValue. But the FT revealed this week that he also owns Halo and Garçon, which are both moored in Antigua.

The Antiguan government was unaware of the ownership of the boats docked on the island before inquiries from the FT, highlighting the scale of the challenge UK and EU authorities face in enforcing sanctions.

Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank said governments, banks and other institutions trying to enforce sanctions had to navigate a world where “ownership trails run cold and morph into a haze of front companies, nominees and cut-outs”.

Halo and Garçon are valued at $38mn and $20mn, respectively, and are now at risk of being seized.

In a letter to the British high commissioner to Barbados regarding the yachts, Antiguan minister of foreign affairs Paul Chet Greene said the island would “provide full assistance to the government of the United Kingdom” if it receives a request under the two nations’ Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

The letter noted that Antigua had requested information on the company that owns the two boats — British Virgin Islands-registered Wenham Overseas Limited — after “persistent allegations by the Financial Times that the vessels could be owned by Mr Roman Abramovich”.

In response, the British high commission provided Antiguan authorities with a letter, seen by the FT, “from the Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands which states the beneficial owner of Wenham Overseas Ltd is Roman Abramovich”.

The letter also shows the billionaire’s address in Switzerland is listed simply as “Immeuble, Gatzby Le Magnifique”, which translates as “The Great Gatsby Building”.

Keatinge described the UK’s ability to demand full ownership information of companies registered in any of its overseas territories or crown dependencies as its “most powerful global weapon” in combating financial secrecy.

However, he asked: “How much is that weapon being used?”

A person with knowledge of Abramovich’s boat collection and documents seen by the FT indicate that the oligarch may also still be the owner of Sussurro, the first yacht he bought in 1998, despite reports he had given it to an ex-wife in a divorce.

The person who correctly identified the two yachts in Antigua as belonging to Abramovich told the FT the oligarch still owned Sussurro.

The vessel’s owner is listed in maritime registers as Vesuvius International Limited in the British Virgin Islands. BVI documents show this company was deregistered there in 2017. Another Vesuvius International was registered in Jersey the same year.

The owner of Jersey-based Vesuvius International is listed as Wotton Overseas Holdings Limited. This entity — which shifted from the BVI to Jersey in 2017 — is also the owner through a subsidiary of a helicopter that has been photographed landing on Abramovich’s Solaris several times.

Maritime tracking services show Sussurro, which means “whisper” in Italian and is valued at $11mn, is moored in La Ciotat in the south of France — the same port where the French government last month seized a $116mn superyacht belonging to a company tied to Igor Sechin, head of Russian oil group Rosneft.

Sussurro’s management company is Blue Ocean Management, a Cyprus-based company that also manages Le Grand Bleu, a 113-metre superyacht that Abramovich reportedly gave to his business associate Eugene Shvidler.

The UK placed Shvidler under sanctions last week.

The letter from the BVI’s financial investigation agency to its British counterparts also reveals that the owner of Le Grand Blue — Ashchurch Holdings Limited — is owned by “Zarui Shvidler”. Shvidler’s wife is commonly known as Zara Shvidler.

VesselsValue pegged Le Grand Bleu’s market value in a range of $110mn-$130mn, noting that the boat had last been tracked this week in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Representatives for Abramovich and Shvidler did not respond to requests for comment.

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First Look at Billionaire Roman Abramovich’s ‘Secret’ Superyacht 

A new superyacht is making waves before it’s even completed. Solaris , reported to be owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, was photographed in June 2021 undergoing testing in the North Sea.

The 455-foot-long explorer yacht has been shrouded in secrecy from the start—despite being relatively hard to hide. 

With eight decks, Solaris —which can sleep 36 guests and a crew of 60—is said to have been built in a yacht shed bigger and taller than Buckingham Palace.

As for amenities, Solaris is helicopter-friendly with a landing pad and hangar, while her beach club beckons sunbathers.

With two massive, 9-megawatt electric Azipod propulsion systems, she’s expected to be one of the most powerful superyachts in the world.


Still, Solaris isn’t even the biggest ship Abraomovich owns: That honor goes to the 533-foot-long Eclipse , the second-longest yacht in the world.

Inside an Outrageous 351-Foot Superyacht

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Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich’s Two Superyachts Are Sailing Towards Each Other in the Mediterranean

Ship tracking platforms show that the billionaire’s yachts "eclipse" and "solaris" are relocating to the mediterranean, with no port destination specified., emma reynolds, emma reynolds's most recent stories.

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Russian oligarch and billionaire Roman Abramovich is on the move—and so are his superyachts.

After being slapped with sanctions in response to Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine, the billionaire was last seen on March 14 at an airport in Israel, where he has dual citizenship, according to Reuters .

Abramovich, who is currently worth an estimated $7.1 billion, according to Forbes , appears to be moving his yachts to safer waters. His 533-foot superyacht Eclipse , normally anchored year-round in the Caribbean, has been sailing east towards the Mediterranean since February 21, according to global ship tracking platform MarineTraffic. As of Wednesday, the ship is located off the coast of Algeria and is still sailing east with no port destination specified. The yacht, estimated to be worth over $600 million, is one of the largest and most expensive in the world , and seems to be cruising towards Abramovich’s other yacht, Solaris , in the Ionian Sea.

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Roman Abramovich’s “Solaris” superyacht.  Courtesy of Lloyd Werft

The 461-foot Solaris  is currently located in the Ionian Sea off the western coast of Greece and heading south. Solaris was most recently at a port in Barcelona, where it had reportedly been receiving repairs since late 2021 . The ship left without declaring a destination. However, it’s possible both Solaris and Eclipse are heading towards each other and are even eyeing ports in Israel where Abramovich is considered safe from sanctions.

Though a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Abramovich has denied having close ties to the Kremlin. This hasn’t stopped dozens of nations, including the US, UK and several EU countries, from implementing sanctions and asset freezes on the oligarch. The sanctions are part of a concerted multinational effort to pressure Russia’s wealthiest and most powerful individuals to help bring Russia’s war on Ukraine to an end.

Perhaps sensing the economic pressures to come, Abramovich made headlines just days after the Ukraine invasion for stating his intention to sell his beloved Chelsea Football Club in London for $2.5 billion. The billionaire said all proceeds would benefit Ukrainian refugees and “victims of the war,” which, notably, may also include Russian soldiers.

Russian oligarch and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich appears to be seeking cover from international sanctions in Israel, where he has dual citizenship.  Associated Press

Russians own up to 10 percent of the world’s megayachts, so Abramovich is just one of many Russian billionaires who are moving their assets to avoid seizure by international authorities. This week, Italian police seized Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko’s 486-foot Sailing Yacht A, and earlier this month, France impounded the yacht Amore Vero , owned by Russian oil billionaire Igor Sechin. Other Russian billionaires have had their yachts impounded in other EU countries.

This isn’t the first time Russian oligarchs’ whereabouts have been made public. Florida teen Jack Sweeney, who once tracked Elon Musk’s jet, created a Twitter account —@RUOligarchJets—dedicated to tracking the private jets of Russian oligarchs, which is updated daily.

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Roman Abramovich’s $1bn five-yacht fleet revealed

• Roman Abramovich’s $1bn five-yacht fleet revealed on x (opens in a new window)
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Robert Smith , Cynthia O’Murchu and Arash Massoudi in London and Max Seddon in Riga

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich owns or is linked to a collection of five yachts estimated to be worth almost $1bn, including several vessels whose ownership remained secret until this week.

A Financial Times investigation into the billionaire’s assets has lifted the veil of secrecy he maintains over his wealth, even after the UK and EU imposed sanctions on him following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for his allegedly close relationship with President Vladimir Putin.

Authorities in the UK and EU are attempting to identify all of the assets owned by sanctioned oligarchs. Abramovich was already widely reported to be the owner of Solaris and Eclipse — worth $474mn and $437mn, respectively, according to yacht data service VesselsValue. But the FT revealed this week that he also owns Halo and Garçon, which are both moored in Antigua.

The Antiguan government was unaware of the ownership of the boats docked on the island before inquiries from the FT, highlighting the scale of the challenge UK and EU authorities face in enforcing sanctions.

Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank said governments, banks and other institutions trying to enforce sanctions had to navigate a world where “ownership trails run cold and morph into a haze of front companies, nominees and cut-outs”.

Halo and Garçon are valued at $38mn and $20mn, respectively, and are now at risk of being seized.

In a letter to the British high commissioner to Barbados regarding the yachts, Antiguan minister of foreign affairs Paul Chet Greene said the island would “provide full assistance to the government of the United Kingdom” if it receives a request under the two nations’ Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

The letter noted that Antigua had requested information on the company that owns the two boats — British Virgin Islands-registered Wenham Overseas Limited — after “persistent allegations by the Financial Times that the vessels could be owned by Mr Roman Abramovich”.

In response, the British high commission provided Antiguan authorities with a letter, seen by the FT, “from the Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands which states the beneficial owner of Wenham Overseas Ltd is Roman Abramovich”.

The letter also shows the billionaire’s address in Switzerland is listed simply as “Immeuble, Gatzby Le Magnifique”, which translates as “The Great Gatsby Building”.

Keatinge described the UK’s ability to demand full ownership information of companies registered in any of its overseas territories or crown dependencies as its “most powerful global weapon” in combating financial secrecy.

However, he asked: “How much is that weapon being used?”

A person with knowledge of Abramovich’s boat collection and documents seen by the FT indicate that the oligarch may also still be the owner of Sussurro, the first yacht he bought in 1998, despite reports he had given it to an ex-wife in a divorce.

The person who correctly identified the two yachts in Antigua as belonging to Abramovich told the FT the oligarch still owned Sussurro.

The vessel’s owner is listed in maritime registers as Vesuvius International Limited in the British Virgin Islands. BVI documents show this company was deregistered there in 2017. Another Vesuvius International was registered in Jersey the same year.

The owner of Jersey-based Vesuvius International is listed as Wotton Overseas Holdings Limited. This entity — which shifted from the BVI to Jersey in 2017 — is also the owner through a subsidiary of a helicopter that has been photographed landing on Abramovich’s Solaris several times.

Maritime tracking services show Sussurro, which means “whisper” in Italian and is valued at $11mn, is moored in La Ciotat in the south of France — the same port where the French government last month seized a $116mn superyacht belonging to a company tied to Igor Sechin, head of Russian oil group Rosneft.

Sussurro’s management company is Blue Ocean Management, a Cyprus-based company that also manages Le Grand Bleu, a 113-metre superyacht that Abramovich reportedly gave to his business associate Eugene Shvidler.

The UK placed Shvidler under sanctions last week.

The letter from the BVI’s financial investigation agency to its British counterparts also reveals that the owner of Le Grand Blue — Ashchurch Holdings Limited — is owned by “Zarui Shvidler”. Shvidler’s wife is commonly known as Zara Shvidler.

VesselsValue pegged Le Grand Bleu’s market value in a range of $110mn-$130mn, noting that the boat had last been tracked this week in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Representatives for Abramovich and Shvidler did not respond to requests for comment.

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Helipads that turn into pools! On-board spas! Anti-pap tech! Inside the oligarch super-yachts

Igor Sechin’s superyacht has a helipad that converts into a swimming pool. Viktor Rashnikov’s seven-deck vessel comes with six pools for its 28 guests. Dmitry Pumpyansky’s boat’s onboard jacuzzi is a hit with everyone from Kendall Jenner to Lewis Hamilton - or at least it was, before the Russian steel magnate’s beloved boat was seized in Gibraltar as part of a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse amongst oligarchs’ mega-yachts since the start of the Ukraine war.

Yachts of those linked to Vladimir Putin are being confiscated by authorities in (mostly European) ports across the world but for some of those marina-hopping to avoid sanctions are finding it harder to lay low than others. Businessman Dmitry Kamenshchik’s mega-boat is the height of three London buses end-to-end and comes with an onboard hospital and dive school, and a boat docked in Italy that’s reportedly owned by Putin himself is the size of two apartment blocks, with local captains saying it’s the biggest they’ve ever seen - and that’s by superyacht standards.

No wonder members of Russia’s billionaire big boat club are starting to sweat. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich ’s nine-deck A-list party palace has already been met by activists with Ukrainian flags to stop it docking, and Ragnar, a £58 million icebreaker owned by mining tycoon Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, has been stuck in a Norwegian port since mid-February because no one will sell it fuel due to the owner’s links to the Russian president.

From Russian sailboats with their own submarines to the £140 million vessel where Bennifer rekindled their romance last summer, this is a guide to the brashest boats in the battle of the high seas.

Vladimir Putin’s six-floor mega-vessel

Name : Scheherazade

(Alleged) Owner : Russian President Vladimir Putin

Size : 460ft

Price-tag: £528m

USP : A weapon system capable of shooting down drones

Seizure status : Unseized in Italy

“It’s the largest yacht I’ve ever seen here... We’re all wondering who the owner is”. That’s what one Italian yacht owner told reporters last week of the mysterious superyacht - one of the 20 biggest in the world - docked in Tuscany’s Marina di Carrara near hers for the last few months (it reportedly features a spa, cinema, wood-burning fireplace, two helipads and a pool table that tilts to adjust for the waves).

The mega-vessel was built in 2020 and its ownership been cloaked in secrecy from the start. Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky is one of those piling pressure on Italian authorities to seize the boat, with US authorities and activists linked to Alexei Navalny all pointing to the same suspected owner: Vladimir Putin.

“They are Russian state employees, military personnel, and they regularly travel to Italy as a group to work on the mysterious yacht,” investigative journalist Maria Pevchikh has said of the crew members, amid rumours that all 40 of them have now been removed from the vessel and replaced with British crew.

Pevchikh looked up many of the previous crew using phone numbers and credit score data and claims they were all Russian apart from the captain, a British national called Guy Bennett-Pearce who denies ever seeing Putin on board and whose mother said this week that he would never work for a “murderer”.

She claims that some of the crew worked for Russia’s Federal Protective Service (FSO), the agency responsible for the president’s personal security, while one of them has reportedly worked aboard Graceful, a 270ft boat that has also been linked to Putin. Scheherazade has also reportedly travelled twice to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Putin has a residence.

Roman Abramovich’s A-list party palace

Name : Eclipse

Owner : Sanctioned Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich

Size : 533ft

Price-tag: £750m

A-list crew : Princess Beatrice, Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry, Kendall Jenner

The have-yachts become the have-nots: how big boats became the new geopolitical power pawns

Scheherazade: The £500m superyacht in Tuscan port ‘linked to Putin’

Yachts banned from leaving British moorings amid crackdown on Russian oligarchs

USP : Built-in missile defences, bullet-proof windows, “anti-paparazzi” tech and a miniature submarine

Seizure status: Unseized in Turkey

While Putin’s alleged yacht hides out in Italy, one of his closest ties in the UK, Roman Abramovich, has moved his to Turkey in a bid to evade sanctions. German-built Eclipse is the biggest beast in the Russian billionaire’s flotilla and was custom-made for him in 2010, featuring nine decks, two helipads, two swimming pools, several hot tubs, a gym, beauty salon and even an onboard nightclub.

It was the world’s longest private yacht until 2013, and has room for 24 guests. Princess Beatrice, Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry and Kendall Jenner have all been spotted partying onboard the £175,000-a-night vessel in Cannes over recent years - presumably keen to take advantage of the ship’s rumoured “anti-paparazzi” system designed to disrupt attempts to photograph passengers.

The vessel spends much of its time in the Caribbean where the Chelsea owner has a 70-acre beachside estate on the billionaire island of St Barts. But last month it was seen fleeing the Caribbean island of St Maarten and it has reportedly now been moved to Marmaris in the heart of the Turkish Riviera, where it was met with activists - including children - waving a “no war”-branded Ukrainian flag from an inflatable dingy in a bid to stop him docking.

Abramovich’s second biggest beast and the newest addition to his fleet, Solaris (featuring eight decks, a helipad and onboard beach club), has also been moved to Turkey in a bid to escape sanctions. The 48-cabin vessel was built in Germany and features the largest planes of glass ever built into a yacht.

It is currently docked 40 miles down the coast from Eclipse in Bodrum, where Abramovich has holidayed in the past, after slipping out of a Barcelona port earlier this month - and just in time. Six days later, Spanish officials there seized Valerie, the superyacht owned by former KGB boss Sergei Chemezov.

Alisher Usmanov’s big-b(u)oy boat

Name : Dilbar

Owner : Sanctioned billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov, who has financial interests in Everton FC and family ties to Putin (his wife is a gymnastics coach who helped Putin’s rumoured girlfriend Alina Kabaeva)

Size : 512ft

Price-tag: £450m

USP : The Dilbar is the largest motor yacht in the world by gross tonnage (15,917), featuring the largest indoor pool ever installed on a yacht

Seizure status: Allegedly seized in Germany

Steel magnate Usmanov’s custom-built mega-boat has been described as “one of the most complex and challenging yachts ever built, in terms of both dimensions and technology” - but that didn’t seem to stop the the German authorities, who are reported to have seized it in Hamburg.

Hamburg officials have denied such reports, saying “no yachts have been confiscated” but three sources in the yacht industry told Forbes that the boat was seized by German authorities last week. Other reports claim the boat has not been seized but that all the vessel’s staff have been fired, suggesting that even Russia’s sixth-richest man (once the UK’s richest person) couldn’t afford their wages following Western sanctions.

“We have tried all avenues to find a solution to keep the team in place, and protect our positions, but have reached the end of the road of possibilities,” the boat’s captain Tim Armstrong reportedly wrote in a message to the crew.

No wonder. At 15,917 tonnes, the Dilbar (named after Usmanov’s mother) reportedly costs the same as four supercars to fill up with fuel (that’s approximately £45m to run it every year). It sleeps a crew of 96, plus 24 guests across 12 suites, with 1,000 cushions to keep them comfortable on deck. Standout facilities include two helicopter pads, a beach deck, garden, sauna, beauty salon, gym and the largest indoor pool (25m) ever installed on a yacht.

Dmitry Pumpyansky’s floating beach house

Name : Axioma

Owner : Sanctioned billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky, owner and chairman of steel pipe manufacturer OAO TMK, a supplier to Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom

Size : 240ft

Price-tag: £57m

A-list crew : Kendall Jenner, Lewis Hamilton, Hailey Bieber and Gigi and Bella Hadid

USP : An inflatable waterslide and interiors fit for a Kardashian

Seizure status: Seized in Gibraltar

Pumpyansky’s mega-boat was previously docked in Antigua but set sail in early March for Gibraltar, where it was promptly detained. The vessel features five decks, a 3D cinema, on-deck infinity pool, jacuzzi with a swim-up bar, steam room, gym and watersports toys including jet skis.

With space for 12 guests alongside its 20-person crew, Axioma might not rival Usmanov’s boat on size, but it certainly does on star status. Kendall Jenner reportedly chartered the boat for her 19th birthday, inviting Gigi and Bella Hadid, Lewis Hamilton and Hailey Bieber to join her on the £420,00-a -week boat in Monaco.

According to superyachtfan.com, it’s the largest motor yacht ever built in Turkey, with a “beach house”-style inside. Images on chartering site Northrop & Johnson show interiors decked out with white and gold furnishings, shiny granite and natural wood fittings and bold modern artworks on the walls.

Vladimir Strzhalkovsky’s English-style icebreaker

Name : Ragnar

Owner : Unsanctioned mining tycoon, former KGB agent and longtime Putin acquaintance Vladimir Strzhalkovsky

Size : 223ft

Price-tag: £58m

USP : Onboard jet skis, snowmobiles and an English-style pub

Seizure status: Unseized in Norway

Ragnar (an old norse word meaning “warrior”) might not have been seized, nor its owner sanctioned, but it’s unlikely to be going anywhere anytime soon. According to latest reports, the £382,000-a-week converted icebreaker has been stuck in a Norwegian port since mid-February because no one will sell it fuel due to the owner’s links to the Russian president.

“We find the discrimination against us, extremely unjust... We have nothing to do with the owner of the boat,” the yacht’s captain, Robert Lankester, wrote in a message after Norwegian fuel suppliers said he and his 16-person crew can “row home” or “use a sail”.

Lankester is a British former Royal Marine and insists that none of his crew are Russian - “they just want to go home” and have resorted to catching and barbecuing fresh cod in the meantime.

At least there is plenty to keep them occupied and make them feel at home while they wait. According to Boat International, not only does the Arctic-ready vessel also include four ski scooters, a giant slide, snowmobiles and equipment for heli-skiing, but there’s also a room specifically designed to resemble a British pub.

Igor Sechin’s statesmanly ship

Name : Amore Vero

Owner : Igor Sechin, the sanctioned boss of Russia’s state energy company Rosneft, former deputy prime minister of Russia and a close ally of Putin

Size : 280ft

Price-tag: £90m

USP : A swimming pool that converts into a helipad

Seizure status: Seized in France

France might just have stolen the heart of Russia’s top oil tycoon (and one of Putin’s closest advisers), if the name of his boat Amore Vero ( “true love”) is anything to go by. Igor Sechin’s 280ft Netherlands-built superyacht was seized by officials in the small Mediterranean fishing port of La Ciotat near Marseille in early March. It had been due to stay there until late April while undergoing repairs, but authorities say they found the crew preparing for an urgent departure when they arrived.

The award-winning yacht has a 28-strong crew and staterooms for 14 guests, including two VIP suites with private balconies. There are two private owner’s decks, a jacuzzi and even a swimming pool that turns into a helipad. A second of Sechin’s mega-yachts, the £45 million Crescent, has also been seized in Spain.

Dmitry Kamenshchik’s Beyoncé-approved record-breaker

Name : Flying Fox

Owner : Unsanctioned Russian businessman Dmitry Kamenshchik, chairman of Moscow Domodedovo Airport

Size: 446ft

Price-tag: £303m

A-list crew : Beyoncé and Jay-Z

USP : An onboard hospital, professional dive centre and two-floor spa with the first on-yacht cryo-sauna

Seizure status: Unseized in the Dominican Republic

Picture three London buses balanced end-on-end. That’s the height of Dmitry Kamenshchik’s motor-boat palace, which towers 32 metres above the water and officially claims the crown for the world’s largest charter yacht. At £2.5 million-a-week (without food, fuel or extras), it’s also the most expensive to charter and was rented out by power couple royalty Beyoncé and Jay-Z for a summer holiday last September.

No wonder it caught their eye. The cruise-like ship comes with an onboard hospital, cinema, al fresco kitchen with a rotisserie, barbecue and multiple teppanyaki grills, and a world-leading spa that would be impressive even if it was firmly on dry land. Set over two floors, it features heated limestone flooring and a giant spa pool with hot and cold tanks for switching between steaming and icy modes in as little as 10 minutes.

For adrenaline-loving guests, the ship also features a water garage with an impressive fleet of nine tenders, toys from hoverboards to jet skis and even space for a submarine, if the owner ever chooses to install one. Oh, and there’s also professional dive centre with a three-person decompression chamber and a team of instructors including former Marines and Olympians.

Other staff members double-up as hairdressers and every member of the crew has military experience - which might come in handy given the limitations being imposed on high net-worth Russians like Kamenshchik, whether they’re sanctioned or not.

Alexei Mordashov’s luxury warship

Name : Nord

Owner : Russia’s richest man Alexei Mordashov, a sanctioned steel magnate with an estimated net worth of $29.1 billion

Size : 464ft

Price-tag: £500m

USP : Military-grade facilities (and style). Nord features its own helicopter hangar and two helipads

Seizure status: Unseized in the Seychelles

Nord - named after Mordashov’s gold-mining company - is currently anchored in the Seychelles, where Western sanctions don’t apply. The aptly-described “Tuxedo’d warship” looks more like a small aircraft carrier than a luxury yacht, featuring a beach club, swimming pool, cinema, gym, sauna and beauty salon. Designers say she was made with one idea in mind: “she must cause strong emotions in every observer, not only through her sheer size, but with the design itself”.

The sleek superyacht is the biggest in the businessman’s fleet of mega-boats, sleeping 36 guests, but it currently remains unseized. One of his other superyachts, the £42m 215ft Lady M (pictured above), was seized in Italy earlier this month.

Andrey Melnichenko’s eight-deck sailboat

Name : SY A (short for Sailing Yacht A)

Owner : Sanctioned chemical and coal magnate Andrey Melnichenko, founder of fertilizer producer EuroChem Group and coal energy company SUEK

Size : 469ft

USP : The world’s tallest masts and its own submarine

Seizure status: Seized in Italy

Melnichenko’s superyacht is one of the few owned by oligarchs to actually feature sails - and he certainly doesn’t do things by half. The futuristic-looking grey sailing boat was designed by A-list architect Philippe Starck and features the world’s tallest masts, each more than a football field in height above the deck, making it the world’s largest power-assisted sailing yacht (though it is rarely actually spotted sailing).

The eight-decker also sports multiple elevators, an underwater observation area and - allegedly - its own submarine. It was seized in the Italian port of Trieste in March.

Sergei Chemezov’s Hollywood dream boat

Name : Valerie

Owner : Sanctioned arms tycoon Sergei Chemezov, chief executive of Russian state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec who used to work with Putin as a KGB spy

Size : 279ft

Price-tag: £107m

A-list crew : Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck

USP : Bennifer approval

Seizure status: Seized in Spain

Valerie might have just been seized in Barcelona for belonging to Putin’s KGB pal Sergei Chemezov, but it is probably more famous for the headlines it made in the south of France last July. The mega-boat was reportedly the same vessel where Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck chose to rekindle their on-off romance last summer , after the Hollywood power pair were spotted cosying up on the glistening sundeck in Saint Tropez.

J-Lo is said to have hired the vessel for her 52nd birthday celebrations, having spent $200,000 on flights to get there. The iconic mega-yacht has cost €950,00 a week to charter in the past and comes with jet skis and equipment for offshore fishing - although Instagram suggests the couple were probably more interested in staying onboard.

The six-deck cruiser features a 20ft swimming pool, spa, jacuzzi hot tub and space for 17 guests and 27 crew. Perhaps it was one of them behind the singer’s onboard bikini birthday shoot, which has been liked more than 8 million times and shows her and Affleck kissing on the deck.

Viktor Rashnikov’s swimmer’s paradise

Name : Ocean Victory

Owner : Sanctioned steel magnate Viktor Rashnikov, chairman of one of Russia’s largest steelmakers MMK

Size: 460ft

Price-tag: £228m

USP : Six pools, a floodable tender garage and an underwater observation room

Seizure status: Unseized in the Maldives

Swimming pools are a superyacht essential in the oligarch world, but Viktor Rashnikov’s has six. That’s one for every five guests - which seems like a waste, given the yacht isn’t even available for charter.

Too late now anyway - the boat not have been seized (yet), but it’s certainly making a break for it. According to Bloomberg, it’s been spotted around the Maldives, a popular spot among hiding yacht-owners as it has no extradition treaty with the US. The seven-deck cruiser sleeps 28 guests and 56 crew and reportedly comes with a helipad, underwater observation suite and a floodable tender dock for smaller boats.

Eugene Shvidler’s Mercedes on the water

Name : Le Grand Bleu

Owner : Sanctioned oil magnate Eugene Shvidler

Size: 370ft

Price-tag: £114m

USP : An onboard aquarium and Land Rover 4x4

Seizure status: Unseized in the Caribbean

Designers say Shvidler’s boat was specifically designed “to look like a Mercedes” on the water - and buoy, does owner Shvidler like to show it off (or before the sanctions, anyway). In 2017, he deliberately anchored it in front of the Statue of Liberty for two months, blocking New Yorkers’ selfies in what the New York Post called a “jackass move”.

Perhaps part of the reason the oil magnate likes to show it off is the fact that he reportedly won it in a high-stakes wager against fellow oligarch Abramovich in 2006. It features an onboard aquarium, two boats capable of speeding at 69mph and a landing craft with its own Land Rover 4x4 for adventuring on dry-land.

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Roman Abramovich’s Yacht Fleet Past & Present

Say what you want about the elite, but you can’t help but marvel and low-key admire their spending habits when it comes to luxury toys. While Roman Abramovich might only be Russia’s 12th richest man (with a net worth of 9.8 billion USD), he’s undoubtedly the one you’ve heard the most about.

A fortune that began with a toy doll company, Abramovich and his now ex-wife used its success as a catalyst to world domination through everything from oil to consumer goods.

Among his arsenal of past and present superyachts, the billionaire tycoon also owns a private Boeing 767 and Gulfstream G650, while his ex-wife Irina took the Dassault Falcon 900 during their divorce settlement.

The pricetags below of these Roman Abramovich yachts – past and present – are in Australian dollars.

A Complete List of Roman Abramovich’s Yachts

Sussurro – $146 million.

Rumour has it that Sussurro is now owned by his ex-wife by way of a divorce settlement, and is rarely used regardless as it is almost always docked in Antibes.

ECSTASEA – $154 MILLION

Ecstasea is one of the fastest large yachts around, with an impressive 43,000 horsepower at a length of 86 metres.

LUNA – $386 MILLION

This 115-metre monstrosity boasts dual helipads and was built by Lloyd Werft at Stahlbau Nord Shipyards. The world’s second largest expedition yacht, the LUNA was sold to Abramovich’s friend and Azerbaijani billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov for 240 million Euro in 2014.

PELORUS – $386 MILLION

Clocking in at the same length and a very similar price tag, the Pelorus was built in 2003 by Lurssen and was briefly owned by a Saudi businessman before being sold to Abramovich the year after.

Optimised for long distance cruising, the Pelorus is without a doubt the sleekest of the tycoon’s line-up, with this vessel capable of 6000 nautical miles at 16 knots in a single voyage. Pelorus is now owned by Hong Kong businessman Samuel Tak Lee.

ECLIPSE – $643 MILLION

There’s no way Roman Abramovich could part from his flagship superyacht and the world’s largest by length at 163.5 metres. Known as the 1.5 billion dollar superyacht, Eclipse’s original cost price was realistically no more than 500 million USD.

Built in total secrecy by Blohm + Voss of Hamburg to custom request from Roman, Eclipse sports bulletproof windows, an advanced missile detection system and a provision to escape via submarine located at the bottom end of the yacht. Bond villain gadgets aside, its other amenities are things such as dual swimming pools and 20 jet skis.

RELATED: Here Are 5 Of The Best Oceanco Superyachts Of All-Time

How many yachts does Roman Abramovich own?

Roman Abramovich owns five yachts named Sussurro, Ecstasea, Luna, Pelorus, and Eclipse

How much are Roman Abramovich's yachts worth?

Roman Abramovich’s yachts are worth $1.7 billion

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The World's Most Expensive Yachts (And The Billionaires Who Own Them)

Julie zeveloff,madeline stone   .

When it comes to megayachts, Roman Abramovich is a step above all others.

In celebration of the Monaco Yacht Show, which kicks off Wednesday , our friends at Wealth-X shared the estimated values of the 10 most expensive yachts on the planet.

From a movie mogul's secondhand yacht to a futuristic design by Philippe Starck, these boats are like small cities on water.

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