See inside President Vladimir Putin's opulent $100 million superyacht
REUTERS/Steffen Mayer
- Russian President Vladimir Putin spent $32 million refitting a superyacht, a new report suggests.
- The yacht, called Graceful, was renovated while Russian soldiers were fighting in Ukraine.
- Photos of the vessel were shared by an investigation from dissident Alexei Navalny's team.
While his troops flooded into Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin was spending millions of dollars on an opulent refit of one of his superyachts, according to an investigation from opposition leader Alexei Navalny's team.
The imprisoned anti-corruption campaigner's team released plans for the yacht called Graceful and said to belong to Russian President Vladimir Putin, that show a helipad, a sauna, an indoor swimming pool that can convert into a dancefloor, and an elaborate dining room with seating for 12 people.
Navalny.com
Photos of the lavishly decorated interior also show marble bathrooms, champagne-colored carpets that cost as much as $88,000, and lavish bedrooms containing beds worth around $34,000.
The investigation also shared pictures of an elegant bookcase that it said contained a photo album of Saint Petersburg, a Russian-German dictionary, and a book about former Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, assassinated in Ukraine in 1911.
The total cost of the works came to $32 million, according to the investigation.
"Half of the country is forced to raise money for underwear and socks for mobilized soldiers and to make trench candles, while the person who unleashed this war spends three billion roubles just on repairs and purchases for his yacht," the report says.
Navalny.com
The 269-foot yacht, which left Hamburg, Germany, just before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is worth around $100 million.
The Navalny team also published an email from January 2022 to the managers of the Blohm & Voss shipyard, which says that the "owner of Graceful is not happy with refit execution."
Navalny.com
"They are dissatisfied with delays in construction schedule," it continues, before adding that the "owners wish to remove Graceful on 01 of February to Russian Federation to complete refit."
The message also mentions concerns about potential delays caused by rising COVID-19 cases and asks the shipbuilders to "accelerate all works which may interfere with Graceful sailing out on 01 February."
The ship was finally seen departing Hamburg on February 7 as it made its way to Kaliningrad, Russia.
Navalny.com
The vessel has been under investigation by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control since last year.
"OFAC is identifying Russia-flagged Graceful and Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia, as blocked property in which President Vladimir Putin has an interest," the US Treasury website said in a June 2022 press release.
"While the leader of Russia, Putin has taken numerous trips on these yachts, including a 2021 trip in the Black Sea where he was joined by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the OFAC-designated corrupt ruler of Belarus, who has supported Russia's war against Ukraine," it adds.
The Navalny team also highlighted a phone shown in one of the photographs of an office on the yacht in which a "Prestige-CB" telephone can be seen.
The report says that these phones, which have no buttons and are decorated with the Russian coat of arms, are used for "top secret" state communications and cannot be bought by the general public. It adds that Putin has the same phone in all of his offices.
The Russian president is reportedly also the owner of the 450-foot, $700 million Scheherazade, one of the largest yachts in the world. The superyacht was impounded in an Italian port last year due to its connections to the Russian government.
Putin is also thought to be the owner of a smaller, Cayman Islands-flagged yacht called Olympia, a gift from the billionaire Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/1ItPnOA
No comments