potanin yacht

Yacht seized as U.S. ramps up oligarch sanctions so Putin 'feels the squeeze'

• France impounds yacht it says linked to Rosneft's Sechin
• Other Russian tycoons' yachts anchored in Maldives -data
• More sweeping sanctions to target oligarch assets
• White House wants Putin to "feel the squeeze"

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Maldives haven.

Reporting by Reuters in Washington D.C., New Delhi, Paris, Berlin, London, Moscow, Brussels and Barcelona, Writing by Ingrid Melander Editing by Mark Heinrich, Angus MacSwan, Leela de Kretser, Frances Kerry, Andrew Heavens and Cynthia Osterman

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Tassilo is a trained lawyer who first joined Reuters in Berlin, then re-joined in Paris. He covers French politics and business, EU institutions and NATO.

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Meet the oligarchs: the Russian billionaires whose jets, yachts and mansions are now in the crosshairs

Some of Russia’s super rich are finding their assets in the west under threat of sanctions from the US

For a growing number of Russia’s richest and most powerful men, now would be a very bad time to take their private jets and superyachts to their mansions in the United States.

Yesterday, the White House announced it would expand the list of Russian oligarchs subject to full blocking sanctions – the highest level of restrictions – as it ramps up punishment against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Some of the newly named oligarchs overlapped with a list of Russian elites on whom the European Union imposed sanctions earlier this week, although there were some notable differences.

The federal government won’t just stop at freezing these targets’ assets, but will seize them, Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

In charge of appropriating these assets will be KleptoCapture , a newly announced justice department taskforce, with support from the treasury department, FBI, IRS and other federal agencies. Under US law, the justice department may use civil forfeiture to confiscate the proceeds from foreign crimes, including corruption, when they are found in the United States.

Their efforts will complement those of a transatlantic taskforce announced over the weekend between the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Commission.

“We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets. We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” Biden said.

The Feds may have their work cut out. US regulations are lax when it comes to requiring disclosures of real estate transactions by foreign individuals, making the country a prime destination for Russian’s uber-rich looking to snap up prime properties without scrutiny.

Other favorite toys of oligarchs like planes and boats are commonly registered through shell companies. And many of those luxury craft have begun traveling toward extradition-free territories such as the Maldives, according to Bloomberg News .

Here’s an introduction to the Russian oligarchs now joining the US sanctions list – as well as a few others who haven’t been targeted yet, but have notable US ties.

Alisher Usmanov

Russians know Alisher Usmanov as one of Vladimir Putin’s “favorite” oligarchs. The country’s richest man until 2015, Usmanov owns a majority stake in Russia’s second-largest phone network, MegFon, and a large stake in the iron and steel giant Metalloinvest.

But few Americans know that Usmanov also helped give us Facebook. The billionaire began investing in the social network in 2009, when Zuckerberg’s firm was having trouble accessing funding in the wake of the financial crisis. Usmanov ultimately poured over $900m into the firm, owning as much as 10% of the company before selling his stake in 2014 and netting himself billions. He was also a major investor in Apple, Twitter, LinkedIn, Groupon and Zynga.

Usmanov was subjected to sanctions by the EU on Monday, and on Wednesday German authorities seized his $600m megayacht , the Dilbar – which boasts the world’s largest yacht-based indoor swimming pool. On 3 March he was among those added to the sanctions list by the US. The oligarch still has a $200m private Airbus A340.

The Rotenbergs

Long before brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg became two of Russia’s wealthiest tycoons, they were teenage Vladimir Putin’s judo training buddies, a role they continued into adulthood. Clearly they were good at it, because after Putin became president he rewarded the brothers with the control of large state-owned enterprises and lucrative contracts, netting them a massive fortune.

The Rotenbergs have since built a huge family empire of international investments under a web of shell companies, which has made Arkady’s son Igor a billionaire in his own right. Despite Arkady and Boris getting US sanctions after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, the brothers “continued actively participating in the US art market by purchasing over $18 million in art in the months following the imposition of sanctions”, according to a US Senate report . Rotenberg-linked shell companies continued making transactions in the US financial system worth over $91m long after the sanctions, according to the report.

In addition to Arkady and Boris, Igor and five additional family members were added to the US sanctions list this week.

Igor Shuvalov

Russia’s deputy prime minister from 2008 to 2018, Igor Shuvalov is now the chairman of VEB, the Russian development bank that finances major infrastructure projects, including the Sochi Olympics. He has claimed to be one of Russia’s cleanest officials, telling media he transferred all his wealth to Russia in 2013, and only kept it offshore before that to avoid spoiling his kids . But an investigation by the anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny found that Shuvalov, through a shell company, bought two London luxury apartments in 2014 for $11.4m and has used a secret private jet to fly his wife’s corgis around the world because, as one of his staffers explained, “it’s not that comfortable in business class”.

He won’t be able to fly his corgis as many places now that he’s on the US and EU’s sanctions lists.

Yevgeniy Prigozhin

Legend has it Yevgeniy Prigozhin began his rise to power selling hot dogs , shortly after getting released from prison for robbery. The wiener venture was apparently a smash hit, and within years he had opened high-end restaurants that counted Russia’s leader among their clientele, earning him the nickname of “Putin’s chef” and catapulting him into the inner circles of Russia’s elite.

Americans might be more familiar with another one of Prigozhin’s businesses: the Internet Research Agency, which employed a troll army that began by supporting Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, before turning its efforts to influencing the 2016 US presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. Prigozhin and the Internet Research Agency were indicted by a US grand jury in 2018 for interfering with the election, and he was added to an FBI wanted list in 2021.

He’s now on both the US and EU sanctions lists for running disinformation campaigns to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sergey Chemezov

A former KGB officer who befriended Vladimir Putin in the 1980s while living in the same apartment building, Sergey Chemezov rose through Russia’s public and private sector in Putin’s wake, and in 2007 was appointed as CEO of Russia’s state-owned defense giant Rostec, a position he still holds today. Chemezov was sanctioned by the US in 2014 amid Rostec’s role as a supplier for Russia’s invasion of Crimea, and Washington is targeting him again, now with his family members.

According to investigative reports and allegations from the jailed activist Alexei Navalny, Chemezov’s relatives have used shell companies to accumulate eye-watering assets , including superyachts and luxury villas around the world. But Chemezov says he’s clean, telling Russian media in 2019: “I do not accumulate wealth. I don’t stuff money in the corners. I don’t have yachts or airplanes.”

Nikolai Tokarev

Another former KGB officer who served alongside Putin and Chemezov, Nikolai Tokarev took over former Soviet state assets as Putin built his political power, and in 2007 became the head of the state-controlled oil giant Transneft. The oligarch has used his position at Transneft to build a business and real estate empire, which reportedly includes sponsoring an extremely fancy palace that’s said to be personally used by Putin. Tokarev was hit by US and EU sanctions this week.

Vladimir Potanin

Reportedly the second richest man in Russia, the banker, metals mining tycoon and former deputy prime minister Vladimir Potanin was among a small circle of oligarchs who met with Putin last week as the invasion of Ukraine began.

Potanin has played a big role in American arts: he has been a board member of New York’s Guggenheim Museum for two decades, until he stepped down on Wednesday. He has also given millions to the Kennedy Center in Washington, which carved his name into a wall. He is also known to have owned property in New York City , which came to light during a divorce fight that could cost him $7bn.

Potanin isn’t currently under US sanctions, which is good news for his three megayachts and two private jets (that we know about).

Leonid Mikhelson

Russia’s richest man in 2016, Leonid Mikhelson is the founder and chairman of natural gas producer Novatek, a close friend of Putin’s, and a business partner of Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire who has been under US sanctions since 2014.

Mikhelson loves art: along with his $200m art collection, he was on the board of trustees at New York’s New Museum from 2013 to 2017, and has sponsored exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and London’s Tate Modern. His ostentatious superyacht, the Pacific, can reportedly accommodate two helicopters.

But his other assets may be harder to trace. In 2017, the Panama Papers revealed that Mikhelson had used an intricate system of shell companies to secretly register a $65m Gulfstream private jet in the United States, which in most cases requires US citizenship or permanent residency.

The tycoon is not currently subject to sanctions, though his company Novatek is.

Petr Aven is the head of Alfa Group, a commercial bank subject to US sanctions that helped him amass an estimated $5.5bn fortune. A well-known collector of classical Russian paintings, Aven has lent works from his collection – reportedly worth $200m – to New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Neue Galerie. Aven reportedly has never bought a plane or yacht, and told the FT “all my money goes in to art.” That is, of course, if you don’t count the millions he spent transforming an 8.5-acre plot in England into a “KGB-proof” mansion , complete with a bomb-proof panic room.

Last year, Aven filed a libel lawsuit against HarperCollins for a book it published about Vladimir Putin’s rise, Putin’s People.

Aven was sanctioned on Monday by the EU, which described him as “one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs” and one of “approximately 50 wealthy Russian businessmen who regularly meet with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin”. He has not yet been placed under sanctions by the US or UK.

Mikhail Fridman

Petr Aven’s business partner, Mikhail Fridman, is Alfa Group’s founder and a Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch. Fridman has made substantial investments in the United States, which include spending a reported $1bn in 2011 to buy up distressed properties across the east coast, telling the Wall Street Journal at the time, “The American market is the most well-regulated and liquid market in the world. It has the best protection for investor rights.”

Through Fridman’s investment group, LetterOne, the billionaire also sank $200m into Uber , and $50m into the telecom startup FreedomPop. Fridman also caused a stir in 2018 when he spoke alongside Aven at a closed-door dinner hosted by the Atlantic Council, a major US foreign policy thinktank, in what critics saw as an unofficial Kremlin mission to protest against US sanctions.

Last week, Fridman became one of the first oligarchs to speak out against the invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “tragedy” and writing that “war can never be the answer.” Nonetheless, Fridman was subjected to sanctions on Monday by the EU, which named him as “a top Russian financier and enabler of Putin’s inner circle”. Like Aven, he has not yet been placed under sanctions by the US or UK.

The oligarch has a son, Alexander, who is reportedly attending NYU’s Stern business school, after a stint in Moscow selling hookah .

Alexei Mordashov

Currently Russia’s richest man, Alexei Mordashov owns a third of Tui, Europe’s biggest tourism firm, and gained his billions as the chief executive of Russia’s largest steel and mining firm, Severstal. He is also a large shareholder of the Bank of Rossiya, which has opened up branches across Russia-occupied Ukrainian territory in recent years.

Over the last two decades, the billionaire has also poured money into the United States, investing heavily through Severstal in steel companies in the midwest before selling them for $2.3bn in 2014.

Mordashov has been hit with sanctions by the EU, but the US hasn’t taken action yet. They would be interested in his Bombardier Global 6000 private jet and multiple superyachts, including the $500m Nord, which Senator Bernie Sanders noted on Tuesday had been “sailing in the Seychelles region for more than 10 days” in a Twitter thread about Russian offshore wealth.

Roman Abramovich

Roman Abramovich, the longtime owner of Chelsea FC, has been described by a member of the UK parliament as a “ key enabler ” of Putin’s regime, which Abramovich has long denied. An orphan raised by his grandparents in Siberia, Abramovich pulled himself up by his bootstraps the old-fashioned way: wriggling into the inner circles of government and then profiting hugely by selling previously state-owned assets that he acquired after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The billionaire owns one of the world’s most outlandish yachts, complete with an onboard submarine and three helicopters. He has also owned a number of ultra-expensive properties in the United States, including a trio of buildings in New York City’s Upper East Side worth more than $90m combined, which he transferred to his third wife, Darya Zhukova, in 2018.

Abramovich is not currently under western sanctions. Earlier, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, told the House of Commons that Abramovich was “already facing sanctions” though later said he “misspoke”.

This article was amended on 7 March 2022 to clarify that Leonid Mikhelson was on the New Museum’s board from from 2013 to 2017

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Meet Vladimir Potanin, the richest man in Russia. He's worth $25 billion, plays ice hockey with Vladimir Putin, and hasn't been sanctioned by the West.

• Vladimir Potanin is the richest man in Russia, worth an estimated $25 billion.
• He's been known to vacation on yachts and play ice hockey with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• Potanin has not been named on US or European sanctions lists.

Vladimir Potanin is the richest documented person in Russia. He's worth $24.9 billion, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows.

Potanin was named in the infamous 2018 "Putin list" of prominent Russian political figures and oligarchs with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Despite those close ties , Potanin is not on the growing list of Russian oligarchs — which includes Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska — who have been sanctioned by the West.

His net worth, however, has taken a massive hit since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine: He had seen a loss of nearly a quarter of his initial wealth, bringing it down to $25 billion per Bloomberg. Potanin's wealth hovered at $30 billion at the beginning of 2022, according to the publication.

Here's a look at how Vladimir Potanin makes and spends his fortune.

Katie Warren contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Potanin, 61, is the majority shareholder and the CEO of Nornickel, the world's largest producer of refined nickel.

Potanin owns 34.6% of Nornickel, according to Reuters.  Nornickel is responsible for almost 22% of the world's high-grade nickel production and about 40% of its palladium. The company pulled in $17.9 billion in revenue in 2021, according to Bloomberg.

In 1990, Potanin founded Interros, a conglomerate with stakes in industries including mining, energy, and real estate. Open Investments was a real estate company under Interros, founded in 2002. Its market cap peaked at $5.1 billion in 2018, the company website shows. Potanin sold his shares in the company in 2010.

Potanin controls Russian pharmaceutical company Petrovax, which developed a drug called Polyoxidonium in 2020, according to Bloomberg.

The billionaire also has a sizable real-estate portfolio. He reportedly owns office spaces , hotel property in Moscow, land in central Russia, and a country club in the Moscow region.

Nornickel did not reply to Insider's request for comment.

Born in Moscow in 1961, Potanin is the son of a diplomat and a doctor. He studied international relations and went on to spend eight years working at the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade.

When he was 30, Potanin met Mikhail Prokhorov , who would become his future business partner. The pair founded the International Company for Finance & Investments and then Onexim Bank, which became Russia's largest private bank at the time.

Potanin became president of the bank in 1992 , at age 32.

In 1996, not long after Boris Yeltsin was re-elected president of Russia, Potanin was appointed first deputy prime minister in charge of energy and economy.

Potanin was one of the Big Seven oligarchs who helped reelect Boris Yeltsin as president in 1996. Yeltsin appointed Potanin as his first deputy prime minister from August 1996 to March 1997.

While working at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Potanin masterminded the "loans-for-shares" program that would go on to become the source of many oligarchs' wealth.

Under the "loans-for-shares" programs , wealthy entrepreneurs and banks loaned money to the Russian government in the 1990s in exchange for equity in the country's natural resource companies. The government often could not repay these loans, leaving many of the natural resource companies in the hands of wealthy individuals.

It was through this program that Potanin acquired Nornickel, which would make him the richest man in Russia at the time.

The loans-for-shares program created many of today's wealthiest Russian oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich , who's worth $13.9 billion  and also holds shares in Nornickel.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK. Many of his assets , including Chelsea Football Club, have been frozen.

While Potanin has not been sanctioned by the West over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, his relationship with Putin stretches back at least two decades.

Potanin has been photographed at various events with Putin  dating back to at least 2000.

While Potanin's wealth is largely documented, Putin's assets are not: The Washington Post previously reported that financier Bill Browder had put Putin's potential net worth as high as $200 billion in 2015.

Potanin also met on several occasions with Dmitry Medvedev, who was the president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and then supported Putin in his re-election campaign. He served as prime minister in from 2012 to 2020.

Potanin was one of several Russian billionaires who helped fund the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He invested $2.5 billion in a ski resort and other facilities, per Forbes.

Potanin built a ski resort in Sochi with nearly 50 miles of trails, a freestyle ski center, a snowboard park, one of the two Olympic Villages, and the Russian Olympic University, Forbes reported.

Potanin said he did not get much return from his investment in the ski resort, according to the BBC.

"We were skiing with President Putin in Austria and there was talk that it would be good to have such resorts in Russia," he told the BBC in February 2013. "It's more a question of legacy," he added.

Like a number of Russian oligarchs, Potanin is a collector of luxury yachts.

Potanin bought the 248-foot Anastasia in 2008 and sold it in 2018 at an asking price of €75 million. The yacht was first put on the market six years earlier at an asking price of €125 million.

In 2012, Potanin was delivered another yacht named Nirvana.  

Anastasia and Nirvana were among a series of three yachts that Potanin commissioned from yacht-builder Oceanco in the Netherlands. Barbara, built in 2017, is the third yacht in the collection.

The 290-foot Barbara was at one time listed at an asking price of €165 million.

The 289-foot Nirvana includes a 10-foot-deep plunge pool and a helipad.

The boat has six decks , which are connected by a main stairwell and a glass elevator.

Nirvana, which was in the Maldives in early March , is currently moored in Dubai, according to ship tracker Marine Traffic.

Another of the billionaire's hobbies is ice hockey. In a 2018 Financial Times interview, Potanin said he plays at least twice a week, owns his own private rink, and sometimes plays with Putin.

When asked who was the better player, Potanin simply said, "I am younger."

Potanin was married to Natalia Potanina for 30 years. They divorced in 2014 amid a public dispute over the distribution of the billionaire's wealth.

Potanina told Business Insider in a 2014 interview that she was seeking half of Potanin's $15 billion fortune at the time of their divorce.

The Russian Legal Information Agency later reported that Potanina received $6.8 million for her share of the luxury apartment the couple shared in Moscow (which Potanin kept) and three plots of land in the Moscow region.

He married his second wife, Ekaterina, in 2014. They reportedly have a child together .

Potanin has three children from his first marriage: Anastasia, Ivan, and Vasily.

Potanin reportedly spent $10 million on Anastasia's wedding in 2018, which took place at a luxury hotel on the French Riviera. The billionaire arranged transfers on private jets and paid for guests to stay at the five-star Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes.

Potanin said in 2010 that he would donate most of his fortune to charity instead of giving it to his three children. Part of his motive was to "help my children avoid the pressure of billions," he said.

"There won't be an inheritance of my fortune. My capital should work for the good of society and continue working for these social aims," Potanin told the Financial Times in February 2010.

In 1999, the billionaire created the Vladimir Potanin Foundation. The nonprofit seeks to implement "long-term educational and cultural projects in Russia," according to the billionaire's biography on Nornickel's website.

In 2016, he donated 250 works of Russian and Soviet art to the Pompidou Center in Paris. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor the next year.

Potanin was, until very recently, a trustee of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York. He resigned from the board on March 2, a statement from the museum said, reported The New York Times.

"The Guggenheim strongly condemns the Russian invasion and unprovoked war against the government and people of Ukraine," the museum said, per The Times.

In 2013, Potanin signed The Giving Pledge, a global charity organization started in 2010 by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Potanin was the first Russian billionaire who signed the Giving Pledge. Signatories of the pledge vow to donate the majority of their wealth to charity.

"I genuinely believe that wealth should work for public good and, therefore, I am trying to make my own contribution toward a better world, especially toward a better future for my own country, Russia," Potanin wrote on The Giving Pledge's website.

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Yacht of wealthiest Russian oligarch docked in haven Dubai

The Nirvana, a sleek 88-meter-long superyacht worth about $300 million, owned by Vladimir Potanin, head of the world’s largest refined nickel and palladium producer in Russia, is docked at Port Rashid terminal in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. Potanin, the man considered to be the wealthiest oligarch in Russia, joins a growing list of those transferring — or, sailing — their prized assets to Dubai as the West tightens its massive sanctions program. Potanin may not be sanctioned by the United States or Europe yet; such sanctions could roil metal markets and potentially disrupt supply chains, experts say. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The man considered to be the wealthiest oligarch in Russia, who has been photographed playing ice hockey with President Vladimir Putin, joins a growing list of those transferring — or, sailing — their prized assets to Dubai as the West tightens its massive sanctions program on Russia’s economy.

Vladimir Potanin, head of the world’s largest refined nickel and palladium producer, may not be sanctioned by the United States or Europe yet; such sanctions could roil metal markets and potentially disrupt supply chains, experts say. As the biggest shareholder in mining company Nornickel, Potanin had a personal fortune of $30.6 billion before the war on Ukraine, according to Forbes.

But like an increasing number of blacklisted Russian oligarchs, he has apparently taken the precaution of moving his $300 million superyacht to the safe haven of Dubai, in the U.S.-allied United Arab Emirates.

It is called the Nirvana, and the sleek 88-meter-long (289-foot-long) superyacht, equipped with a glass elevator, gym, hot tub, 3D cinema and two terrariums of exotic reptiles, stands out even in a port full of flashy, floating mansions.

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

Representatives for Potanin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The arrival of Russian-owned luxury vessels in Dubai has become an outsized symbol of the UAE’s reluctance to oppose Moscow’s war on Ukraine and enforce Western sanctions. One of a shrinking number of countries where Russians can still fly directly, the financial center has become a thriving hub for Russia’s rich, in part because of its reputation for welcoming money from anywhere — both legitimate and shady .

“They haven’t tried to hide the fact they’re accepting oligarchs themselves and their yachts,” said Julia Friedlander, a former senior policy adviser for Europe in the U.S. 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 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Emirati stance has stoked tensions with the United States, which has sought to pressure its Gulf Arab ally to help combat Russian sanctions evasion. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of the main U.S. coordinators on the Russian sanctions strategy, visited the UAE last week to voice American concerns about Russian financial flows and demand increased vigilance.

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

As Moscow’s war on Ukraine grinds on, Western economic sanctions have proliferated in an effort to pressure Putin to change course. The European Union has captured billions of dollars in art, yachts and property. Britain, Fiji, Italy, Spain and other countries have impounded oligarchs’ yachts . The U.S. has seized vessels and aircraft.

Some prominent oligarchs, however, have escaped the blacklist because of their strategic holdings. Although Potanin has been hit with Canadian and Australian sanctions for his close ties to the Kremlin, his reputation as the “King of Nickel” has so far 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 said. “Those are serious considerations.”

Italy just seized 2 superyachts of oligarchs close to Putin, bringing the number to 3. Here’s what could be next

Superyachts belonging to three of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest associates were detained in Europe in the past week, part of Western government sanctions against hundreds of Russian financial targets .

The Amore Vero, a $116 million yacht owned by Igor Sechin, head of Russian oil company Rosneft, was seized in France, the Financial Times reported. Forbes published an article Wednesday saying that the world’s largest superyacht, the $600 million Dilbar , owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov, was seized in Germany, but later retracted that reporting, citing an update from Hamburg’s Ministry for Economy and Innovation.

Meanwhile, Italian police seized the “Lady M,” owned by Alexei Mordashov, one of the richest man in Russia, on Friday, according to a tweet from Ferdinando Giugliano, media adviser to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi .

Italian tax police also froze “Lena,” a yacht owned by Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko, Giugliano added.

The clampdown on Russia’s oligarchs began on Feb. 25, when the U.S. government sanctioned five elite Russian families by  barring them  from accessing any property or engaging in any transactions in the U.S.

The U.K. followed suit,  freezing the assets of 100 individuals  the following day and capping the amount Russians can deposit into U.K. bank accounts. The EU, meanwhile, put 26 Russians on its sanctions list on Monday. The sanctioned billionaires will have their assets frozen, and they won’t be allowed to enter or transit through the EU. 

Chief among these assets, of course, are the megayachts beloved by many of the billionaires close to Putin. As more sanctions are prepared for the coming days , more yachts may be confiscated.

Here are six Russian billionaires and their big boats—some of which might be targets of future seizures.

Igor Sechin’s ‘ Amore Vero’

Amore Vero, the yacht of Igor Sechin, CEO of Russian oil company Rosneft, was seized by French authorities on Wednesday as it was preparing to leave, the Wall Street Journal reports. European Union sanction documents call Sechin, the former deputy prime minister of Russia, one of Putin’s “most trusted and closest advisers, as well as his personal friend,” according to CNBC . The vessel, formerly known as the St. Princess Olga, is 280 feet long, with four decks and seven cabins, according to Autoevolution . Sechin was sanctioned by the U.S. and European Union in late February.

Alisher Usmanov’s ‘Dilbar’

The yacht of Alisher Usmanov—the world’s 94th richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index —was seized by German authorities on Wednesday in Hamburg, according to Forbes, which later retracted that reporting. Usmanov owns nearly half of USM Holding company, a Russian-based investment group under which ore-producer Metalloinvest and telecommunications giant MegaFon operate. He became head of the International Fencing Federation in 2008 and controls Russian newspaper Kommersant , according to Bloomberg. He also owns the Dilbar, a 500-foot superyacht with a 25-meter swimming pool. The boat, reportedly named after his mother, is worth nearly $600 million, according to Reuters . The U.S. and U.K. sanctioned him this week.

Roman Abramovich’s ‘My Solaris’

Roman Abramovich—Russian billionaire, owner of Chelsea Football Club and Putin supporter—also owns the more than 450-foot My Solaris, worth $600 million, according to superyachtfan.com . Abramovich owns another superyacht, dubbed the Eclipse, worth $700 million, according to the site . He has not yet been sanctioned in the U.S. or U.K.

Vladimir Potanin’s ‘Nirvana’

Vladimir Potanin, among the richest men in Russia, owns the Nirvana, a megayacht that can accommodate 12 guests and boasts a crew of 18, according to superyachtfan.com . He also owns Barbara, another megayacht. Potanin—No. 55 on Forbes ’ Billionaires 2021 list—owns more than a third of Norilsk Nickel, a mining company, as well as stakes in a pharmaceutical company and a ski resort. On Wednesday he resigned as a trustee of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, according to the museum. Its statement didn’t give a reason for his departure but said that “the Guggenheim strongly condemns the Russian invasion and unprovoked war against the government and people of Ukraine,” the Washington Post reported . Nirvana was seen in Maldives waters on Wednesday, Reuters reported . The country doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Viktor Rashnikov’s ‘Ocean Victory’

Russian iron and steel magnate Viktor Rashnikov owns the $300 million “ Ocean Victory, ” featuring six pools, an underwater observation room, an internal helicopter hangar, and a helideck, according to superyachtfan.com . With a net worth of nearly $10 billion, Rashnikov — who began as a mechanic at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works, the company he is now majority owner of — is No. 195 on Forbes’ 2021 billionaires list .

Oleg Deripaska’s ‘Clio’

Oleg Deripaska, who founded the Russian aluminum group Rusal, owns “ Clio,” a $65 million superyacht, with a crew of 21. It’s supported by a boat dubbed “ Sputnik ,” with a crew of 26, according to superyachtfan.com . Sanctions against three of Depripaska’s companies were lifted by former U.S. President Donald Trump. Deripaska has called for an end to the war in Ukraine, joining a handful of oligarchs who have dared to speak out against the invasion. The oligarch is worth nearly $3 billion, according to Forbes . As of Thursday, his ship was docked in Maldives, which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S., Reuters reported . Deripaska was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018.

Fortune reporter Tristan Bove contributed to this report.

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US hits Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin with sanctions

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James Politi in Washington and Max Seddon in Moscow

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The US has imposed sanctions on Vladimir Potanin, the nickel tycoon and one of Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs, as it took new action to punish Moscow for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The US state and Treasury departments announced the decision on Thursday as part of a broader set of measures targeting individuals and businesses close to Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin.

Potanin is the largest shareholder and chief executive of Norilsk Nickel, making him one of the most prominent figures shaping global commodities markets. In its early round of sanctions, Washington had been reluctant to target the commodities sector for fear of destabilising global markets and further exacerbating supply chain bottlenecks and inflation.

The US had been particularly wary of imposing sanctions on Potanin after a similar move in 2018 targeting his rival and fellow Norilsk shareholder Oleg Deripaska caused so much turmoil that it rolled back many of the restrictions a year later. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Deripaska has been one of the most prominent oligarchs to have criticised the Kremlin.

Norilsk declined to comment on Thursday’s decision.

With all but a handful of Russia’s richest oligarchs under sanctions, Potanin moved to snap up prime banking assets in the spring from western companies exiting Russia and Oleg Tinkov, a fellow tycoon who had spoken out against Putin’s war.

French lender Société Générale, which had bought Russian lender Rosbank from Potanin in 2008, took a €3.1bn hit when it sold the bank back to him in April.

Tinkov, founder of financial technology group TCS, complained that Potanin had bought his 35 per cent stake a month later for only 3 per cent of its true value. Tinkov said the Kremlin had forced him into a “fire sale” after he spoke out against the “crazy war”.

The US state department said it was also imposing sanctions on Potanin’s wife and two adult children on Thursday, while the Treasury department said it was imposing sanctions on Rosbank. The US has also identified Nirvana, Potanin’s yacht, as blocked property.

One of the few original oligarchs still in business in Russia , Potanin was the architect of the “loans-for-shares” scheme in 1995 through which a small group of tycoons backed then-president Boris Yeltsin’s re-election campaign the next year. In exchange for their support, the Kremlin sold the crown jewels of former Soviet industry to oligarchs at knockdown prices in rigged auctions.

Potanin paid only $170.1mn for 38 per cent of Norilsk in 1995 even though the company reported $3.3bn in revenue.

Though the oligarchs largely lost their political influence after Putin was elected president in 2000, Potanin was seen as a savvy political player despite no longer being part of the Kremlin’s inner circle.

He regularly played ice hockey with Putin, helped convince him to back a bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics and remained at the helm of Norilsk despite a long-running conflict with Deripaska, who is still under personal sanctions.

“Today’s designations . . . together with actions taken by our international partners, will further inhibit the Putin regime’s ability to fund its horrific war against Ukraine,” said Brian Nelson, Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

The US move against Potanin follows similar steps taken by the UK and Canada against the nickel tycoon, and comes amid Russia’s barrage of attacks against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure including missile and drone strikes on Kyiv, the capital.

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, on Thursday said these attacks had caused “extraordinary death and destruction” in Ukraine. As well as targeting Potanin and his family members, the US has also imposed sanctions on a group of regional Russian officials responsible for managing the conscription of individuals mobilised to fight the war in Ukraine.

The US has also imposed sanctions on 17 subsidiaries of VTB, the Russian bank it hit with sanctions early in the war, and five members of the board of state-owned Russian Railways.

VTB said the move was a “politicised decision” that would “not really affect our work”.

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International Edition

Russian billionaires’ jets, superyachts roam free amid attack

For all the talk of sanctions on Russia and its elite, the status symbols of the billionaire class remain free to roam the skies and the seas.

Russia’s ultrarich are among the biggest owners of private jets and superyachts. So far, even as the U.S. and U.K. have ramped up sanctions on more than 100 Russian individuals and entities, these assets of the country’s elite — which can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars each — have avoided any direct hit. So too have their high-end real estate holdings.

One of the most high-profile status symbols in the U.K. is drawing attention lately: Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s ownership of the English football club Chelsea FC. It’s one of Europe’s most successful teams and is valued at $2.1 billion. Abramovich is not currently on the U.K.’s sanctions list.

As tensions in the region escalate, some U.K. lawmakers are pressing to widen the scope of those subject to harsh penalties for the invasion of Ukraine. 

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“Surely Mr. Abramovich should no longer be able to own a football club in this country,” Labour MP Chris Bryant said. “Surely we should be looking at seizing some of his assets, including his ($204 million) home.”

Russia’s richest lost $39 billion on Thursday alone, according to the Bloomberg wealth index.

Aircraft activity

Aircraft controlled by Abramovich, as well as planes belonging to oligarchs Dmitry Mazepin and Alexey Mordashov, landed in Moscow on Thursday, according to flight data website ADS-B Exchange. Abramovich’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner took off from an airport near Monaco, while Mazepin’s Gulfstream G650 flew from the New York area. Mordashov’s Bombardier Global 6000 traveled from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

President Vladimir Putin had invited Russia’s business elite to a meeting Thursday at the Kremlin. Mazepin was there, as was Mordashov. So was Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s wealthiest person with a $26.1 billion fortune. 

The aircraft owned by Mordashov, Russia’s second-richest person with a net worth of $23 billion, then flew back to the Seychelles, the flight data show. Mordashov’s yacht Nord, completed in 2020 at an estimated cost of $500 million, has been sailing in the island nation for days.

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Billionaire comforts

Assets like planes or yachts could be targeted by a round of sanctions, according to Andrew Lohsen, a fellow in the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The challenge is they could be held through shell companies, complicating the ownership chain.

Imposing sanctions on Russian’s ultrarich “is important, but I recognize that it is complex,” said Natalie Jaresko, Ukraine’s former finance minister. “It takes time, but you have to take away their comforts.”

The U.K. took the additional step late Friday of banning all private Russian aircraft from the nation’s airspace. However, most of the billionaires have registered their jets in other jurisdictions, raising questions about the measure’s effectiveness.

Meanwhile, public backlash is mounting against Abramovich due to his Chelsea FC ownership. Sports investors and private equity firms, including some from the U.S., have began to draw up potential takeover offers for the football club in case sanctions force the Russian billionaire to sell, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.

One of Abramovich’s yachts, the Solaris, is in Barcelona, while the other, the Eclipse, is in Saint Martin in the Caribbean.

Russian billionaires crave the legitimacy afforded from places frequented by high-net-worth individuals, such as New York, London and Singapore, said Raj Bhala, a professor at the University of Kansas Law School who specializes in international trade.

“To then be denied that access or to be shunned from those sorts of places does hurt them,” he said. “I wouldn’t underestimate that.”

Family risk

If the U.S. imposes sanctions on Russia’s ultrawealthy individuals, penalties could extend to family members as well, said Rachel Fiorill, a lawyer for Paul Weiss and former enforcement section chief at the Treasury Department.

A broadside against Russia’s billionaire class isn’t so simple for most countries. Neither is penalizing a head of state, though the U.S. plans to join the European Union and the U.K. in sanctioning Putin, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News on Friday, with the announcement of the symbolic step expected soon. 

Meanwhile, Putin is rolling out a domestic response to sanctions that will initially focus on assisting lenders hit with penalties, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News, which may soften any economic blow in the coming weeks.

Still, many of the Russian billionaires are enjoying global travels. At least four of their superyachts remained anchored in Barcelona. Two were last parked along the Florida coast, in Miami and Palm Beach.

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Russia’s richest man who cleverly saved his $300 million superyacht from getting seized by the US authorities may end up losing the 345 feet long Nirvana to his ex-wife in one of the world’s priciest divorces.

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Meet Vladimir Potanin, one of the richest men in Russia, who made his $22 billion fortune in the nickel industry, has owned at least 3 yachts, and plays ice hockey with Vladimir Putin

Vladimir potanin is the richest person in russia, worth, according to bloomberg, an estimated $22 billion..

The 58-year-old businessman is the president of Norilsk Nickel , the world's largest producer of refined nickel.

Potanin owns 34.6% of Norilsk Nickel, which brought in $11.7 billion of revenue in 2018.

Norilsk Nickel is responsible for almost 22% of the world's high-grade nickel production and about 40% of its palladium.

Potanin has made more than $4 billion in dividends from the company as of January 2018, according to Bloomberg.

In addition to his wealth in the metals industry, Potanin also controls Russian pharmaceutical company NPO Petrovax Pharm and has a sizable real-estate portfolio.

He reportedly owns office spaces , hotel property in Moscow, land in central Russia, and a country club in the Moscow region.

Born in Moscow in 1961, Potanin was the son of a diplomat and a doctor. He studied international relations and then went on to spend eight years working at the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade.

In 1990, Potanin formed Interros Foreign Trade Association, a conglomerate that now holds stakes in industries including metals and mining , real estate, sports and tourism, and pharmaceuticals.

When he was 30, Potanin met Mikhail Prokhorov , who would become his future business partner. The pair founded the International Company for Finance & Investments and then Onexim Bank, which became Russia's largest private bank at the time.

Potanin became president of the bank in 1992 , at age 32.

In 1996, not long after Boris Yeltsin was re-elected president of Russia, Potanin was appointed first deputy prime minister in charge of energy and economy.

While working at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Potanin masterminded Russia's "loans-for-shares" programs, where wealthy entrepreneurs and banks loaned money to the Russian government in the 1990s in exchange for equity in the country's natural resource companies.

While working at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Potanin masterminded Russia's loans-for-shares programs, where wealthy entrepreneurs and banks loaned money to the Russian government in the 1990s in exchange for equity in the country's natural resource companies.

The government often could not repay these loans, leaving many of the natural resource companies in the hands of wealthy individuals.

It was through this program that Potanin acquired Norilsk Nickel , which would go on to make him the richest man in Russia.

In fact, the loans-for-shares program created many of today's wealthiest Russian oligarchs such as Roman Abramovic , who's worth about $16 billion today and also holds shares in Norilsk Nickel.

Yeltsin is not the only Russian president Potanin has rubbed shoulders with. The billionaire has also had close ties to the Kremlin under Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.

He's been photographed at various events with Putin dating back to at least 2000.

Potanin is on the infamous "Putin list," the nickname for a document released by the US Treasury Department listing names of 210 prominent Russians who have close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The list, released in early 2018, named individuals and companies that the administration was deciding whether or not to sanction with legislation meant to punish Russia for interfering in the 2016 US presidential election, as well as its annexation of Crimea, military operations in eastern Ukraine, and human rights violations, CNN reported.

Potanin also met on several occasions with former president Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Prime Minister of Russia.

Medvedev was president from 2008 to 2012 and then supported Vladimir Putin in his re-election campaign. Putin named Medvedev prime minister soon after he was sworn in as president.

Potanin was one of several Russian billionaires who chipped in to fund the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. According to Forbes, he invested $2.5 billion for a ski resort and other facilities.

He built a ski resort in Sochi with nearly 50 miles of trails, a freestyle ski center, a snowboard park, one of the two Olympic Villages, and the Russian Olympic University, Forbes reported.

Like other Russian oligarchs, Potanin is a collector of luxury yachts. The Russian billionaire bought the 70-foot yacht Anastasia in 2008, and sold it for about $84 million in 2018.

Anastasia was first listed for 125 million euros, or about $140 million, in 2012 when Potanin was delivered his new yacht, Nirvana.

According to Forbes , Anastasia and Nirvana were among a series of three yachts that Potanin had built at Oceanco in the Netherlands.

The 289-foot Nirvana yacht includes a 10-foot-deep plunge pool and a helipad.

The boat has six decks which are connected by a main stairwell as well as a glass elevator.

Potanin put the Nirvana up for sale around the same time he first put Anastasia on the market in 2012, but it's unclear whether the billionaire has sold Nirvana.

In 2018, a new 289-foot yacht called Barbara was delivered to Potanin , according to Yacht Harbour.

Another of the billionaire's hobbies is ice hockey. Potanin plays at least twice per week, owns his own private rink, and sometimes plays with Putin, he said in a 2018 Financial Times interview.

When asked who was the better player, Potanin simply said, "I am younger."

When asked who was the better player, Potanin simply said, I am younger.

Potanin was married to Natalia Potanina for 30 years until they divorced in 2014 amid a public dispute over the distribution of the billionaire's wealth.

Potanina told Business Insider in a 2014 interview that she was seeking half of Potanin's $15 billion fortune at the time of their divorce.

The Russian Legal Information Agency later reported that Potanina received $6.8 million for her share of the luxury apartment the couple shared in Moscow (which Potanin kept) and three plots of land in the Moscow region.

As Business Insider previously reported, he married a woman named Ekaterina in 2014.

The couple reportedly has a child together.

Potanin has three children from his first marriage. His oldest daughter, Anastasia, was once a Russian aquabike champion and now owns an art gallery in Moscow.

She married a ballroom dance teacher in the South of France in 2018. Potanin reportedly spent $10 million on her wedding , which took place at a luxury hotel on the French Riviera. The billionaire arranged transfers on private jets and paid for guests to stay at the five-star Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes.

Potanin said in 2010 that he would donate most of his fortune to charity instead of giving it to his five children. Part of his motive was to "help my children avoid the pressure of billions," he said.

Potanin said in 2010 that he would donate most of his fortune to charity instead of giving it to his five children. Part of his motive was to help my children avoid the pressure of billions, he said.

Potanin has become known for his philanthropic endeavors. In 1999, he created the Vladimir Potanin Foundation, "a non-profit charity with a mandate for implementing socially significant long-term educational and cultural projects in Russia," according to his biography on Norilsk Nickel's website.

He's also a trustee of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York.

And in 2016, he donated 250 works of Russian and Soviet art to the Pompidou Center in Paris, which resulted in him being awarded the French Legion of Honor the next year.

In 2013, Potanin joined The Giving Pledge, a global charity organization started in 2010 by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

"I genuinely believe that wealth should work for public good and, therefore, I am trying to make my own contribution toward a better world, especially toward a better future for my own country, Russia," Potanin wrote on The Giving Pledge's website.

I genuinely believe that wealth should work for public good and, therefore, I am trying to make my own contribution toward a better world, especially toward a better future for my own country, Russia, Potanin wrote on The Giving Pledge's website.

Potanin's fortune has grown by about $4 billion in the past year, according to Bloomberg. In April 2018, he lost $2.25 billion in a single day after President Donald Trump announced new sanctions on Russia.

Some of Russia's top billionaires lost an estimated $16 billion on that day.

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