Yacht of wealthiest Russian oligarch docked in haven Dubai

The man thought of to be the wealthiest oligarch in Russia, who has been photographed enjoying ice hockey with President Vladimir Putin, joins a rising listing of these transferring or, crusing their prized belongings to Dubai because the West tightens its huge sanctions program on Russia’s financial system.

Vladimir Potanin, head of the world’s largest refined nickel and palladium producer, will not be sanctioned by the United States or Europe but; such sanctions may roil metallic markets and doubtlessly disrupt provide chains, specialists say. As the largest shareholder in mining firm Nornickel, Potanin had a private fortune of $30.6 billion earlier than the conflict on Ukraine, in keeping with Forbes.

But like an rising variety of blacklisted Russian oligarchs, he has apparently taken the precaution of shifting his $300 million superyacht to the protected haven of Dubai, within the US-allied United Arab Emirates.

It known as the Nirvana, and the modern 88-meter-long superyacht, outfitted with a glass elevator, gymnasium, sizzling tub, 3D cinema and two terrariums of unique reptiles, stands out even in a port filled with flashy, floating mansions.

The big Dutch-built vessel with a navy blue hull was docked on Tuesday flying the flag of the Cayman Islands when Associated Press journalists noticed the ship at Dubai’s Port Rashid within the eyeshot of sanctioned Russian parliamentarian Andrei Skoch’s $156 million Madame Gu.

Representatives for Potanin didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The arrival of Russian-owned luxurious vessels in Dubai has turn out to be an outsized image of the UAE’s reluctance to oppose Moscow’s conflict on Ukraine and implement Western sanctions. One of a shrinking variety of nations the place Russians can nonetheless fly straight, the monetary centre has turn out to be a thriving hub for Russia’s wealthy, partly due to its popularity for welcoming cash from anyplace each reliable and shady.

“They haven’t tried to hide the fact they’re accepting oligarchs themselves and their yachts,” stated Julia Friedlander, a former senior coverage adviser for Europe within the US Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “When it comes to taking sides in the conflict, it’s not in their political interest to do so. They want to keep their access to money from around the world.” The UAE Foreign Ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The Emirati stance has stoked tensions with the United States, which has sought to stress its Gulf Arab ally to assist fight Russian sanctions evasion. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of many major US coordinators on the Russian sanctions technique, visited the UAE final week to voice American issues about Russian monetary flows and demand elevated vigilance.

Still, there’s no indication that President Joe Biden will impose secondary sanctions, leaving Washington with few stress factors.

As Moscow’s conflict on Ukraine grinds on, Western financial sanctions have proliferated in an effort to stress Putin to alter course. The European Union has captured billions of {dollars} in artwork, yachts and property. Britain, Fiji, Italy, Spain and different nations have impounded oligarchs’ yachts. The US has seized vessels and plane.
Some distinguished oligarchs, nevertheless, have escaped the blacklist due to their strategic holdings. Although Potanin has been hit with Canadian and Australian sanctions for his shut ties to the Kremlin, his popularity because the “King of Nickel” has to this point spared him.

“We’re reaching a critical metal shortage and we don’t know where those supply chains are headed, so you have to ask, would sanctioning him make things worse?” Friedlander stated. “Those are serious considerations.”