Inside sanctioned Russian billionaire’s superyacht on sale for £26m
A sanctioned Russian billionaire's superyacht has gone on sale for £26m by a EU.-based luxury yacht broker.
The 168-foot MySky yacht is linked to Igor Kesaev, according to an email seen by Reuters, in a move which is feared by Western governments to be a work around international sanctions, which targets oligarchs' luxury assets such as yachts.
In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU and UK sanctioned Kesaev in April, with the EU citing his involvement in military weapons production and tobacco distribution in Russia, as well as links to the Russian government "and its security forces".
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The United States has not sanctioned Kesaev.
The proposed sale was disclosed in an advertisement emailed from the brokerage firm to undisclosed recipients on September 14.
Sara Gioanola, a spokesperson for Heesen Yachts, the Netherlands-based firm that built MySky, confirmed that Kesaev commissioned it and another yacht, called Sky.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm that Kesaev still has direct ownership in the MySky, and a spokesman for Kesaev declined to address questions about the ownership of the yacht or its imminent sale.
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The advertisement seen by Reuters was sent from an email address at Fort Lauderdale, Florida firm Merle Wood & Associates, which calls itself "one of the premier yacht brokerage firms worldwide."
It was circulated privately with a warning not to post the advertisement publicly
Yachts linked to sanctioned Russians have appeared in destinations such as the Maldives and Turkey in recent months as authorities in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom levied sanctions and sought to seize such assets.
A spokesperson for the European Commission, which handles EU sanctions, said European leaders are encouraging other countries to align their policies with the EU, but said sanctions apply only within the EU's jurisdiction.
Roland Papp, who tracks illicit financial flows at Transparency International EU, said the often-secretive nature of sales involving superyachts means that it's highly unlikely authorities would ever learn about such transactions.
"It's very easy to try to avoid sanctions in this way," he said.
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