Is thriller yacht in Italy Putin’s pleasure boat?

In a dry dock within the Tuscan seaside city of Massa stands the “Scheherazade”, essentially the most notorious yacht in Italy right this moment attributable to hypothesis it might belong to Vladimir Putin. With its bow dealing with the Mediterranean, the 140-metre craft value an estimated $700 million is the topic of a probe into its possession by Italy’s monetary police.

Several yachts belonging to Russian oligarchs have already been seized in Europe since Moscow invaded Ukraine final month. The seizure of the “Scheherazade”, nonetheless, can be essentially the most spectacular had been its provenance certainly traced to the Russian president.

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For a number of months, it has been parked for upkeep work at The Italian Sea Group’s shipyard on the Marina di Carrara, throughout the western seaside city of Massa not removed from Tuscany’s well-known marble quarries of Carrara.

On Wednesday, an AFPTV journalist witnessed no apparent indicators of exercise on board, though some males had been working close by.

A supply near the continued probe by Italy’s monetary police instructed AFP that the investigation could possibly be wrapped up inside days.

“We are in a phase of delving deeper and it’s generally more complicated,” mentioned the supply. “It’s not always easy to attribute ownership.”

Built by Germany’s Lurssen in 2020, the yacht options two helipads, a swimming pool and a film theatre, based on the TremendousYachtFan web site, which researches yachts and their homeowners.

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News stories say the “Scheherazade”, which flies the Cayman Islands flag, is owned by an organization registered within the Marshall Islands.

Its captain is British, however the remainder of the crew is Russian, based on researchers on the anti-corruption basis of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, which on Monday posted a video on YouTube attributing the yacht to Putin.

Researchers cited a crew checklist of their possession that included a number of members of Russia’s federal protecting service, which is charged with Putin’s safety.

But on Wednesday Paolo Gozzani, the pinnacle of the native CGIL union, which incorporates shipyard employees, mentioned the crew of the “Scheherazade” had abruptly modified in current days.

“The crew was exclusively made up of Russian personnel,” Gozzani instructed AFP.

“And then suddenly all the staff was changed with a British crew, and the reasons are still not clear.”

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The New York Times has reported that US authorities have collected proof linking Putin to the posh ship, which made two journeys, in 2020 and 2021, to the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The Italian Sea Group mentioned in a press release the yacht was “not attributable to the property of Russian President Vladimir Putin”.

Its evaluation was based mostly on “the documentation in its possession and following the findings of the checks carried out by the relevant authorities”, mentioned the shipyard’s proprietor.

SEIZE THEM ALL

Interviewed by the New York Times earlier this month, the British captain of the “Scheherazade” mentioned Putin was not the proprietor of the ship and that the Russian president had by no means set foot on board. Refusing to offer the proprietor’s identify, the captain mentioned it was nobody dealing with present sanctions.

In an tackle to the Italian parliament on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to as on Italy, a preferred Russian resort vacation spot, to grab all monetary and actual property property of the oligarchs, together with yachts, “from the Scheherazade to the smallest”.

Since Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine and the following European Union sanctions, Italian authorities have seized over 800 million euros ($877 million) of property belonging to Russian oligarchs, Prime Minister Mario Draghi mentioned Tuesday.

That contains the “Sailing Yacht A”, the 530-million-euro sailing-assisted motor yacht linked to Russian billionaire Andrei Melnichenko, a coal and fertiliser tycoon on the EU’s blacklist.

Italy additionally seized the 65-million-euro “Lady M Yacht” belonging to Alexei Mordashov, a Russian metal billionaire seemingly near Vladimir Putin.

The sanctions, mentioned Draghi, “have severely affected the economy and financial markets of Russia, as well as the personal assets of the people closest to President Putin”.

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