After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a number of superyachts linked to Russian oligarchs disappeared from the international maritime tracking system, but satellite images and photos posted on social media show where they are hiding.
When international sanctions began to be imposed on the Russian oligarchs, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, some very unusual things began to happen.
Superyachts linked to Russian billionaires have started disappearing from international maritime tracking systems.
This violates the UN Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea, according to which large ships must have the Automatic Identification System (AIS) on, unless there is a danger to the ship itself or the crew - from pirates, for example.
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The location of some of the superyachts still remains unknown, but the BBC used publicly available satellite images and social media to track down four of them.
"It's unusual not to have a signal for this long when previously these yachts used to send signals every few minutes," says an analyst at shipping data provider VeselVelj.
The three yachts have been transmitting their position data every day this year, including while docked in port, until they suddenly fell silent.
Two then traveled more than 1.000 kilometers with AIS not engaged.
In March and April, while billion-dollar superyachts linked to sanctioned oligarchs (themselves rarely registered owners) were seized in the US, EU and UK, these vessels managed to be moved to safety.
Here is where the vessels are now.
Galactica Super Nova, associated with oil billionaire Vagit Alekperov
The 70-meter-long superyacht (pictured above) can accommodate 12 guests in six luxury suites and has a six-meter glass-bottom swimming pool, a waterfall and a helipad.
This $80 million ship last broadcast its position on March 2, while it was off the coast of Montenegro.
His journey began on February 26, two days after the invasion of Ukraine, in Barcelona, in northern Spain.
At that moment, neither the superyacht nor Alekperov, the founder of Russia's largest oil company Lukoil, were under sanctions.
But Spanish authorities will later seize several Russian superyachts as the list of oligarchs under sanctions for ties to Russian President Putin expands.
Alekperov was sanctioned by Great Britain and Australia in April and he resigned as president of Lukoil soon after.
Later, Canada also added it to its sanctions list.
From Montenegro, the Galaktika Super Nova sailed more than 1.500 kilometers to the southeast without transmitting an AIS signal.
Instagram posts show that she is now at the Port Azur Marina in Göcek, Turkey, and that she arrived there on May 9.
Since Turkey is not cooperating with international sanctions against Moscow, it acts as a safe haven for now.
"There are more yachts in Turkey right now than there were before because of the sanctions against Russian oligarchs," a source from a Turkish luxury yacht company told the BBC.
"Both yachts of Roman Abramovich, the former owner of the Chelsea football club, have been here for a long time. And they will probably stay even longer, since they have nowhere to go."
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Kvantum Blu, associated with retail oligarch Sergey Galitsky
Quantum Blue is even larger than Galactica Super Nova, and has traveled an even greater distance - more than 1.700 kilometers - since its AIS system stopped transmitting.
Worth about a quarter of a billion dollars, it is 104 meters long and has a crew of forty along with a cinema, a beauty salon and a helipad.
Although no sanctions were imposed on Galicki, the ship was temporarily not allowed to leave the port of Monaco in March.
As soon as she was allowed to go, she crossed the Mediterranean and entered the Suez Canal on March 16.
After circumnavigating the Arabian Peninsula, its tracking system stopped transmitting a signal on March 22 not far from the Yemeni-Omani border.
Her current location was revealed by a contributor to the Gibraltar Yachting Facebook page.
The source, who wishes to remain anonymous because he works in the marine industry, said he was on holiday in Dubai and was going to Port Rashid to photograph a superyacht owned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of the emirate.
He was stopped by a security guard as he approached the dock, he says.
"I was chased away by a man standing there saying, 'No painting, no painting.' I couldn't even get close."
But when he climbed to the upper deck of the nearby QE2 cruise ship - now a floating hotel and tourist attraction - he was stunned to see not only the sheikh's ship, but Quantum Blue and another Russian superyacht, the Madam Gu, linked to sanctioned metals magnate Andrei Skocha.
When asked by the BBC if he thought the Quantum Blue's AIS tracking system was deliberately switched off, the source replied: "Definitely."
“Almost all of those Russian yachts turned off their AIS. They turn off the AIS right before entering the harbor to practically hide there."
Previously, Kvantum Blue did not stop transmitting AIS signals even while anchored in port.
Publicly available satellite images taken by the European Space Agency show that Quantum Blue arrived in Dubai between March 14 and 29 and is still there.
Even if Galic sanctions were to be imposed in the future, Dubai does not have an asset seizure agreement with the US, UK or EU that could pose any threat to Quantum Blue.
Galitsky was linked to the superyacht by the Russian news site RT, as well as by Forbes, the Financial Times and other Western publications.
Clio, associated with billionaire industrialist Oleg Deripaska
The $65 million, 73-meter-long superyacht traveled further than any other Russian yacht seeking safe harbor.
Clio left Gale, Sri Lanka on February 10 for the Maldives.
From there she sailed northwest to the Gulf, before returning to the Maldives.
Then she sailed into the Red Sea, passed through the Suez Canal and headed north.
Her AIS system stopped transmitting on April 18, after she passed through the Bosphorus and entered the Black Sea.
She then traveled about 900 kilometers to the Russian port of Adler.
Satellite images show it arrived on April 22 and is still there.
She also appeared in posts on the messaging app Telegram.
A spokesman for Deripaska, an industrialist worth $3,5 billion, said he does not own Klio.
The International Maritime Organization lists a company called Veilforce as the registered owner, with a British yacht management company as the contact.
The company told the BBC it was not connected to the Clio at the time her AIS signal stopped transmitting and is not connected to the superyacht now.
The US, Great Britain, the EU and Australia have imposed sanctions on Deripaska because of his alleged closeness to President Putin.
His spokesman told the BBC that the sanctions were "grossly wrong, not to mention based on baseless and absurd allegations".
"Mr. Deripaska has never been involved in politics and has no benefit from this or any other military conflict."
Graceful, associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin
The 82-meter superyacht Graceful sailed from Hamburg, where it was being renovated, on February 7 - during the events leading up to the invasion of Ukraine - and sailed to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad.
Under the UN Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea, ships are allowed to switch off their AIS systems while at anchor, but the Graceful's signals disappeared as it approached Kaliningrad.
Photos on the Russian social network Odnosklasinki and messaging app Telegram initially showed Graceful in a position that could be geolocated as an anchorage on the Pregolja River.
Later, Graceful moved to dry dock belonging to Jantar Shipyard.
Satellite images from the European Space Agency show the superyacht did so on March 16 and is still there.
A spokesman for President Putin told the BBC: "We don't know anything about the yacht in question. We categorically assert that Putin has nothing to do with this or any other yacht."
However, the superyacht Graceful was connected to the Russian leader by the US Treasury Department in a statement in which it was added to the list of sanctioned assets.
The announcement states that he traveled on this superyacht "on numerous occasions".
Graceful's registered owner with the International Maritime Organization is a company called JSC Argument, which a BBC investigation in Russian found is linked to a sprawling Black Sea country estate known as "Putin's Palace".
The BBC reached out to Vagit Alekperov and Sergey Galitsky for comment but did not receive a response.
Watch the video: Is this Putin's superyacht
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