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Sanctioned Russian's superyacht docked in Dubai

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Sanctioned Russian oligarch yacht in Dubai as pressure grows

Emirates oligarch's yacht.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A sleek $156 million superyacht belonging to a sanctioned Russian oligarch and parliamentarian is now docked in Dubai, the latest reminder of how the skyscraper-studded sheikhdom has become a haven for Russian money amid Moscow's war on Ukraine.

The 98-meter (324-foot) Madame Gu, which has a helicopter pad, gym, beach club and elevator, remained moored off Dubai's Port Rashid on Thursday in what has become a test for the close partnership between the United States and United Arab Emirates.

The vessel, with an eye-catching blue hull and $1 million annual paint job price tag, is owned by Andrei Skoch, one of the wealthiest men in Russia's Duma. A steel magnate, Skoch's fortune is valued at about $6.6 billion, according to Forbes. Attempts to reach Skoch for comment were not successful.

Like sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko’s Motor Yacht A docked in the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah , the appearance of the Madame Gu in Dubai shows how Russian oligarchs have parked their assets in the UAE even as Western governments increasingly enforce sanctions and American pressure mounts on its Gulf Arab ally to follow suit.

The U.S. Treasury first sanctioned Skoch in 2018 over his role in government and alleged “longstanding ties to Russian organized criminal groups, including time spent leading one such enterprise.” Earlier this month, the Treasury designated the Madame Gu, along with its helicopter, barring American entities from conducting business with the superyacht. Skoch is also sanctioned by the European Union.

The Madame Gu, registered in the Cayman Islands, flew an Emirati flag on Thursday when Associated Press journalists observed the ship — a show of wealth dramatic enough to rival the Dubai’s famed Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship-turned-hotel floating just beside it. It also was moored just next to the $200 million megayacht Dubai, owned by the city-state's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC show the Madame Gu at its berth at Port Rashid beginning from March 25.

The UAE, home to glitzy Dubai and oil-rich Abu Dhabi, has declined to take sides in Moscow's war and welcomed the influx of Russian money to its beach-front villas and luxury hotels. The UAE's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The invasion of Ukraine sent Russia’s richest businessmen and politicians scrambling to save their significant assets from what became a widening dragnet. Superyachts tied to Russian oligarchs have taken on outsized significance in the Western crackdown that aims to exert pressure on President Vladimir Putin to change course in Ukraine.

Authorities across Europe and elsewhere have seized yachts owned by sanctioned Russian billionaires on a U.S. sanctions list. Earlier this month for instance, the U.S. won a legal battle in Fiji to confiscate a $325 million Russian-owned superyacht.

Other U.S. allies, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, are involved in trying to collect and share information with Washington against Russians targeted for sanctions, the White House says.

One of a shrinking number of countries where Russians can still fly directly, the UAE has chosen not to impose sanctions on Moscow or freeze the assets of Russian billionaires relocating to the emirate.

An apparent influx of superyachts and private planes tied to Russian's wealthy so far have avoided scrutiny in a country that has long been a magnet for foreign money — legal and otherwise .

But their increasingly visible presence appears to be frustrating Washington.

This month, a U.S. court ordered the seizure of two aircraft worth over $400 million believed to be owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The former Chelsea soccer club owner’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner is now in the UAE, the court filing said.

In a House hearing Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf acknowledged the UAE had become a safe haven for Russian oligarchs linked to Putin.

“I’m not happy at all with the record at this point and I plan to make this a priority to drive to a better alignment, shall we say, of effort,” said Leaf, who once served as an ambassador to the UAE.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of the main U.S. coordinators on the Russian sanctions strategy, visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi to meet with Emirati financial officials this week.

During a banking round table, he pleaded for increased vigilance.

“Despite this commitment (to prevent money laundering), the UAE — and other global financial hubs — continue to face the threat of illicit financial flows," he said, according to readout from the Treasury Department.

Adeyemo warned of challenges that have emerged amid the war on Ukraine “for both governments seeking to hold Russia accountable and for financial institutions like yours that are responsible for implementing the financial sanctions we impose.”

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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Sanctioned Russian oligarch yacht in Dubai as pressure grows

A sleek $156 million superyacht belonging to a sanctioned Russian oligarch and parliamentarian is now docked in Dubai, the latest reminder of how the skyscraper-studded sheikhdom has become a haven for Russian money amid Moscow's war on Ukraine.

The 98-meter (324-foot) Madame Gu, which has a helicopter pad, gym, beach club and elevator, remained moored off Dubai's Port Rashid on Thursday in what has become a test for the close partnership between the United States and United Arab Emirates.

The vessel, with an eye-catching blue hull and $1 million annual paint job price tag, is owned by Andrei Skoch, one of the wealthiest men in Russia's Duma. A steel magnate, Skoch's fortune is valued at about $6.6 billion, according to Forbes. Attempts to reach Skoch for comment were not successful.

• Complete coverage of the war in Ukraine
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Like sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko's Motor Yacht A docked in the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, the appearance of the Madame Gu in Dubai shows how Russian oligarchs have parked their assets in the UAE even as Western governments increasingly enforce sanctions and American pressure mounts on its Gulf Arab ally to follow suit.

The U.S. Treasury first sanctioned Skoch in 2018 over his role in government and alleged "long-standing ties to Russian organized criminal groups, including time spent leading one such enterprise." Earlier this month, the Treasury designated the Madame Gu, along with its helicopter, barring American entities from conducting business with the superyacht. Skoch is also sanctioned by the European Union.

The Madame Gu, registered in the Cayman Islands, flew an Emirati flag on Thursday when Associated Press journalists observed the ship – a show of wealth dramatic enough to rival the Dubai's famed Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship-turned-hotel floating just beside it. It also was moored just next to the $200 million megayacht Dubai, owned by the city-state's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC show the Madame Gu at its berth at Port Rashid beginning from March 25.

The UAE, home to glitzy Dubai and oil-rich Abu Dhabi, has declined to take sides in Moscow's war and welcomed the influx of Russian money to its beachfront villas and luxury hotels. The UAE's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The invasion of Ukraine sent Russia's richest businessmen and politicians scrambling to save their significant assets from what became a widening dragnet. Superyachts tied to Russian oligarchs have taken on outsized significance in the Western crackdown that aims to exert pressure on President Vladimir Putin to change course in Ukraine.

Authorities across Europe and elsewhere have seized yachts owned by sanctioned Russian billionaires on a U.S. sanctions list. Earlier this month for instance, the U.S. won a legal battle in Fiji to confiscate a $325 million Russian-owned superyacht.

Other U.S. allies, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, are involved in trying to collect and share information with Washington against Russians targeted for sanctions, the White House says.

One of a shrinking number of countries where Russians can still fly directly, the UAE has chosen not to impose sanctions on Moscow or freeze the assets of Russian billionaires relocating to the emirate.

An apparent influx of superyachts and private planes tied to Russian's wealthy so far have avoided scrutiny in a country that has long been a magnet for foreign money – legal and otherwise.

But their increasingly visible presence appears to be frustrating Washington.

This month, a U.S. court ordered the seizure of two aircraft worth over $400 million believed to be owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The former Chelsea soccer club owner's Boeing 787 Dreamliner is now in the UAE, the court filing said.

In a House hearing Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf acknowledged the UAE had become a safe haven for Russian oligarchs linked to Putin.

"I'm not happy at all with the record at this point and I plan to make this a priority to drive to a better alignment, shall we say, of effort," said Leaf, who once served as an ambassador to the UAE.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of the main U.S. coordinators on the Russian sanctions strategy, visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi to meet with Emirati financial officials this week.

During a banking roundtable, he pleaded for increased vigilance.

"Despite this commitment (to prevent money laundering), the UAE – and other global financial hubs – continue to face the threat of illicit financial flows," he said, according to readout from the Treasury Department.

Adeyemo warned of challenges that have emerged amid the war on Ukraine "for both governments seeking to hold Russia accountable and for financial institutions like yours that are responsible for implementing the financial sanctions we impose."

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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Sanctioned Russian oligarch yacht in Dubai as pressure grows

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A sleek $156 million superyacht belonging to a sanctioned Russian oligarch and parliamentarian is now docked in Dubai, the latest reminder of how the skyscraper-studded sheikhdom has become a haven for Russian money amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

The 98-meter (324-foot) Madame Gu, which has a helicopter pad, gym, beach club and elevator, remained moored off Dubai’s Port Rashid on Thursday in what has become a test for the close partnership between the United States and United Arab Emirates.

The vessel, with an eye-catching blue hull and $1 million annual paint job price tag, is owned by Andrei Skoch, one of the wealthiest men in Russia’s Duma. A steel magnate, Skoch’s fortune is valued at about $6.6 billion, according to Forbes. Attempts to reach Skoch for comment were not successful.

Like sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko’s Motor Yacht A docked in the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, the appearance of the Madame Gu in Dubai shows how Russian oligarchs have parked their assets in the UAE even as Western governments increasingly enforce sanctions and American pressure mounts on its Gulf Arab ally to follow suit.

The U.S. Treasury first sanctioned Skoch in 2018 over his role in government and alleged “longstanding ties to Russian organized criminal groups, including time spent leading one such enterprise.” Earlier this month, the Treasury designated the Madame Gu, along with its helicopter, barring American entities from conducting business with the superyacht. Skoch is also sanctioned by the European Union.

The Madame Gu, registered in the Cayman Islands, flew an Emirati flag on Thursday when Associated Press journalists observed the ship — a show of wealth dramatic enough to rival the Dubai’s famed Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship-turned-hotel floating just beside it. It also was moored just next to the $200 million megayacht Dubai, owned by the city-state’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC show the Madame Gu at its berth at Port Rashid beginning from March 25.

The UAE, home to glitzy Dubai and oil-rich Abu Dhabi, has declined to take sides in Moscow’s war and welcomed the influx of Russian money to its beach-front villas and luxury hotels. The UAE’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The invasion of Ukraine sent Russia’s richest businessmen and politicians scrambling to save their significant assets from what became a widening dragnet. Superyachts tied to Russian oligarchs have taken on outsized significance in the Western crackdown that aims to exert pressure on President Vladimir Putin to change course in Ukraine.

Authorities across Europe and elsewhere have seized yachts owned by sanctioned Russian billionaires on a U.S. sanctions list. Earlier this month for instance, the U.S. won a legal battle in Fiji to confiscate a $325 million Russian-owned superyacht.

Other U.S. allies, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, are involved in trying to collect and share information with Washington against Russians targeted for sanctions, the White House says.

One of a shrinking number of countries where Russians can still fly directly, the UAE has chosen not to impose sanctions on Moscow or freeze the assets of Russian billionaires relocating to the emirate.

An apparent influx of superyachts and private planes tied to Russian’s wealthy so far have avoided scrutiny in a country that has long been a magnet for foreign money — legal and otherwise.

But their increasingly visible presence appears to be frustrating Washington.

This month, a U.S. court ordered the seizure of two aircraft worth over $400 million believed to be owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The former Chelsea soccer club owner’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner is now in the UAE, the court filing said.

In a House hearing Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf acknowledged the UAE had become a safe haven for Russian oligarchs linked to Putin.

“I’m not happy at all with the record at this point and I plan to make this a priority to drive to a better alignment, shall we say, of effort,” said Leaf, who once served as an ambassador to the UAE.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of the main U.S. coordinators on the Russian sanctions strategy, visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi to meet with Emirati financial officials this week.

During a banking round table, he pleaded for increased vigilance.

“Despite this commitment (to prevent money laundering), the UAE — and other global financial hubs — continue to face the threat of illicit financial flows,” he said, according to readout from the Treasury Department.

Adeyemo warned of challenges that have emerged amid the war on Ukraine “for both governments seeking to hold Russia accountable and for financial institutions like yours that are responsible for implementing the financial sanctions we impose.”

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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The West has shut Russia out of many American and European banks in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

One way wealthy and middle-class Russians, and businessmen close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, have circumvented the unprecedented sanctions Russia faces has been to send their money to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the uberwealthy federation of seven semiautonomous, autocratic petro-states in the Persian Gulf that has chosen not to participate in US-led sanctions.

For years, sanctioned businessmen close to Putin have been investing big in the UAE’s luxury real estate, per leaked databases . In recent months, it has become a yacht sanctuary . More Russian private jets than ever are flying from Moscow to the UAE, according to the New York Times , and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich parked his Dreamliner in Dubai . The Emirati national airlines, meanwhile, is one of the few that continues direct service from Russia . (The Emirates is also a longtime Russian mob hub and a longtime Russian tourist hub .)

“We can see where their yachts go, we can see where their aircraft are going, and it’s all going there,” said Jodi Vittori, an anti-corruption expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “That’s just a one-stop shop for illicit finance.”

Dirty money from Putin’s inner circle has also flowed in London’s luxury real estate market and into the United Kingdom’s offshore economy , among other less-regulated global cities and markets, like art and cryptocurrency, that provide the shield of anonymity.

But this is dark money going into a dirty money hub. Though watchdog groups have tried to track the dollar amounts being sequestered in the Emirates, the secretive nature of transfers and that some are from lesser-known Russians who are not on sanctions lists makes the shape and scale of it difficult to map.

“The UAE is a big hole in the bucket,” Karen Greenaway, a former FBI agent, explained. “The movement of money — and we can’t see it — allows Russia to continue to run its economy and its war economy.”

Two former Treasury officials with experience working in the Middle East told me that’s a major problem. It’s among the reasons why, in March, the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental standard-setting body based in Paris, gray-listed the UAE . That global watch list identifies countries with known money laundering and illicit financing. Now, international financial institutions that operate there need to monitor transactions more carefully. Those risks could bruise the UAE’s robust economy. In response, experts told me that the UAE is trying to implement reforms, to get off the gray list and to improve its standing. A spokesperson for the UAE’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing office said in a statement, “The UAE has already adopted a series of tangible measures to expand engagement with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and enact effective national reforms.”

But as Russians flee to the UAE and send their money there, the Biden administration is only drawing the Emirati leadership closer to Washington. During his Middle East trip in July, President Joe Biden invited Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to the Oval Office . So how is it that the UAE is able to get away with being a destination of choice for Russian cash while maintaining such a tight relationship with the US?

How the Emirati system allows this to happen

The Emirates is a global financial center that is built on freewheeling regulations. “Dubai basically started out as a pirate cove,” Sarah Chayes, author of the book Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security , said. Several dozen financial free zones and free trade zones provide havens for foreign money to avoid taxes, and the country’s loose regulations make it a particularly fruitful place for expats and foreign companies. There is no income tax; value-added tax was only introduced in 2018 ; and its first corporate tax regime is set for 2023.

Dubai has become home to illicit finance and other valuables like gold, art, and, more recently, crypto. Chayes recalled seeing what appeared to be heavy suitcases full of cash arriving in the UAE’s airport from Afghanistan when she was working as an adviser to the Pentagon, and later learned that millions in cash was coming into the UAE from Afghanistan per year.

It’s a center for American and international companies, often their base and port of call for Middle East business. There’s also the golden visa program , where luxury property buyers can get extended Emirati residence permits (which are short of impossible for international laborers to receive).

A former Treasury official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, explained that the UAE being a conduit for sanctions evasion is nothing new. “The laissez-faire attitude has benefited them economically,” they said. “It’s something that’s pretty openly notorious.” It’s a known risk that strategic consultants advise clients on.

And there are indicators that UAE officials are ignoring corruption. US financial officials file millions of suspicious activity reports annually as they monitor money flows within banking institutions, for example. But Lakshmi Kumar of Global Financial Integrity has noted that the UAE’s free zones, for example, post a suspiciously low number of such reports. She thinks the UAE is not monitoring suspicious activity in a comparable way to similarly sized economies.

“The lack of numbers can tell an evocative and effective story,” she told me. “The reason [the Emirati economy is] allowed to have that freedom and comfort to operate is because there is no stick on the other end.”

The enforcement issue may have to do with leadership. The UAE doesn’t have democratic institutions or independent agencies, and many courts, law enforcement, and executive agencies are run by members of the royal family. “I think that ultimately one other reason why the Emirates really aren’t interested in doing anything about Russian oligarchs is because they have their own oligarchs,” Greenaway said.

Dissent is not tolerated , prison sentences are harsh , and high-tech surveillance is widespread . As Vittori told me, “This is one of the world’s most significant surveillance states as far as we can tell.”

Despite the apparent corruption and the UAE’s implicit support to one of the US’s chief adversaries, the Emirates holds a prominent position in Washington. Experts told me what the UAE brings to bear — in terms of cooperation on counterterrorism and its 2020 accord with Israel after decades without diplomatic relations — is just too important for US policymakers to prioritize accountability on other issues.

“The US has helped bring the UAE and Israel and its neighbors together, but we want to make sure that the US stays at the table,” Michael Greenwald, a former senior Treasury official, told me.

It’s also worth noting that it took more than a decade for the UAE to deal with terrorist financing. That suggests that, even absent the political will needed, it could take time to build up an infrastructure to monitor Russian dark money.

“The entire architecture built up against ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorists was not going to be successful in going after Russian oligarchs,” a former senior intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told me. “We built a door to stop horses from escaping, but now we have different animals altogether.”

What could the US do about Russian dirty money in the UAE?

The urgent need to stop corruption was a central tenet of a speech that senior Treasury official Elizabeth Rosenberg delivered to Arab bankers in February this year.

“Nearly every act of corruption flows through the formal financial system, the system we are all a part of, which means all of us have the ability — and the responsibility — to stop it,” she said . Much as the US clamped down on terrorist financing internationally after the September 11, 2001, attacks, she explained, the US would now focus on corruption. But two weeks later, Russia invaded Ukraine — and since then, the messaging has shifted.

When Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo visited the United Arab Emirates and met with bankers in June, the word “corruption” was absent from his remarks. He did tell an Emirati newspaper, however, that he had raised the issue of Russians using the UAE financial sector in his meetings.

“I’m here today to thank those who have cooperated in this effort and to underscore the need for your vigilance and proactive action in combatting Russian sanctions evasion, including in the UAE,” Adeyemo told bankers . (An Emirati delegation visited Washington in early July to discuss cooperation.)

Nothing as strongly worded came out following President Joe Biden’s meeting with the UAE president during his recent Middle East trip. Russia did not appear in a US-UAE joint statement that came out of that conversation, but the document says, “President Biden recognized the UAE’s efforts to strengthen its policies and enforcement mechanisms in the fight against financial crimes and illicit money flows.” Earlier that day, a senior Biden administration official evaded a question on the UAE as a haven for Russian money and emphasized that the UAE voted on the right side of a United Nations General Assembly vote against Russia.

But the Biden administration recognizes that the UAE has become an alternate financial hub for sanctions-busters.

As Barbara Leaf, the State Department’s top Middle East diplomat who served as ambassador to the UAE from 2015 to 2017, put it in a recent congressional hearing, “As far as the UAE, I am not happy, I am not happy at all with the record at this point, and I plan to make this a priority, to drive to a better alignment, shall we say, of effort.”

The question then becomes: What would making it a priority look like?

After being gray-listed, the UAE’s Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Finance promised to initiate new inspections of institutions , “with the aim of achieving full compliance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s international standards.”

The gray-listing was a wake-up call, and Emirati financial authorities are more carefully monitoring daily financial transactions, according to a business consultant based in the Emirates, who would only speak anonymously. “The central bank is really cracking down,” they told me, “because senior financial officials here are actually worried about the reputation.”

“The UAE is actively building on the significant progress made to date,” the spokesperson for the anti-money laundering office said. “Looking ahead, the UAE will continue to develop its ability to detect, investigate and understand money laundering and terrorist financing, and advance financial crime compliance frameworks within the country and around the world.”

This is a start, but anticorruption experts seek a more systemic reckoning. The lack of political will on the Emirati side is the unanimous answer for why so little has been done to reform. And the lack of appetite on the US side helps explain why the US has not put pressure on the Emiratis.

Few countries in the Washington ecosystem have as influential boosters as the Emirates. On the UAE embassy’s social media, for example, former general and Trump administration Defense Secretary James Mattis touts how great the country is.

“The US will probably not take any serious steps to punish the UAE for this,” says Giorgio Cafiero of the consulting firm Gulf State Analytics. “Because the country has a very liberal veneer, and a narrative of being a tolerant country. It also is a country that does a lot of lobbying in Washington, for many reasons, the UAE escapes criticism in the US.”

In fact, the United Arab Emirates was the honored guest of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival this year on Washington’s National Mall. The country is so good at wins, while flouting the rules.

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Russian oligarch's Dh1.8bn superyacht free to leave Dubai

Yacht at centre of britain's largest divorce case has been impounded in dubai since 2017.

Superyacht Luna owned by Russian billionaire Farkad Akhmedov is docked at Port Rashid in Dubai. Reuters

A $450 million superyacht at the centre of London’s largest divorce fight may be finally allowed to set sail from a Dubai port

The 115-metre  MV Luna had been held in Dubai while lawyers for Russian oligarch Farkhad Akhmedov fought a UK court order that transferred it to his former wife.

Dubai’s Court of Appeals dismissed Tatiana Akhmedova’s attempt to enforce the British ruling last week, saying it was contradictory to Sharia law.

The ruling will come as a setback to litigation funder, Burford Capital, who provided Ms Akhmedova with funding in exchange for a share of up to 30 per cent of any recovery from the divorce case.

The Dubai court lifted the arrest warrant on the nine-deck ship but the vessel’s future is still in question.

The British judgment remains in effect alongside an injunction from the Marshall Islands, the flag state of the yacht, a spokesman for Ms Akhmedova said.

Dubai’s highest court can still review the decision.

“[Ms Akhmedova] remains confident in the merits of her case and that the Dubai courts will support common standards of international co-operation by recognising and enforcing overseas judgments” her spokesman said.

Burford said it would also continue to pursue the case.

“Farkhad Akhmedov is a judgment debtor evading an English Court order," said the company, which is based in New York but listed in London.

"As he will discover, nobody is above the law."

As part of its asset recovery program, Burford has given Ms Akhmedova £18m (Dh85.7m) to fund the litigation, a representative for Mr Akhmedov said.

The yacht, which has 50 crew and two helipads, has been the focus of litigation for almost two years.

It was impounded in Dubai and put into dry dock in an initial victory for Burford before Mr Akhmedov persuaded the local courts to release the boat.

The British order was made after a judge said in December 2016 that the billionaire must pay 41 per cent of his assets to his wife.

The marriage ended two years earlier. Mr Akhmedov refused to take part in the UK case and moved back to Russia.

“This judgment means their attempts to enforce this matrimonial and maintenance judgment in the UAE have now failed,” said his lawyer, Carlo Fedrigoli.

It is not the only legal fight stemming from the seizure of the yacht. Mr Akhmedov also brought a $200m (Dh734.6m) claim for damages, naming Burford as a defendant.

The Dubai Court of First Instance dismissed the claim in January.

Farkhad Akhmedov denied Burford’s claim that he was seeking to place himself above the law.

“I am a law-abiding person, but Burford is not the law,” he said.

“What it likes to call the law is simply its business interests and I will never obey the dictates of that business.

“This is a profoundly unfair and twisted legal ruling from which Burford is seeking to profit at the expense of me and my family.”

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Dubai Harbou. Photo via Dubai International Boat Show.

Sanctioned Russians Spark Worries of Industry Crisis at Dubai Yacht Show

Share this article, related news, us seeking to auction russian oligarch’s yacht costing $7 million a year to maintain, ex-google ceo scraps $67.6 million purchase of abandoned superyacht, abandoned russian superyacht to be auctioned after sanctions lifted, dubai boat show features electric sailboat, $318 million superyacht, russian oligarch yacht agents indicted by us grand jury.

By Devon Pendleton, Lisa Fleisher and Kateryna Kadabashy (Bloomberg) –Superyachts, the ultimate symbol of excess, have long had a whiff of the sordid amid all the splendor.

At this year’s Dubai International Boat Show, there are other S-words hanging in the air — sanctions, seizures. 

In normal times, this yacht exposition, held at a brand-new marina, would be just like all the others: Giddy displays of lavishness put on to entice a growing universe of would-be buyers and awe normal-folk spectators.

But the war in Ukraine and sanctions against some of Russia’s moneyed elite have thrust superyachts to the fore of public consciousness like never before.  

The show this week is still packed with boats out of reach for 99.99% of the world, though there’s nothing that compares with Dilbar . That’s Alisher Usmanov’s superyacht, the largest by volume ever built, which is currently languishing in Germany due to European Union sanctions on the Russian billionaire. Other vessels are stuck in  France  and  Italy. One was nearly sunk off the coast of Spain .

It’s more drama than the Gulf emirate’s boat-show organizers could have imagined when planning the exposition, back after a two-year pandemic hiatus. 

The venue is still hopping. On Thursday afternoon, exhibitors, salespeople and smartly dressed families with children in tow milled around in the 90-degree heat. Waiters swung through with trays of watermelon juice and a VIP section erected by the Nikki Beach resort was packed. It’s a buzzy atmosphere befitting a marquee industry event on the heels of a record sales year . 

‘The Situation’

Yet the war and its implications loom. Just about every conversation with industry professionals returned to a neutral-sounding term for Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine: “the situation.” 

“Everybody’s talking about it,” said Rainer Behne, chairman of BehneMar, a yacht broker and consultant.

Yacht builders, jubilant over skyrocketing sales amid the pandemic, are getting a shock dose of fear over the ramifications of sanctions and unprecedented public scrutiny.

Adding to the jitters, the Financial Action Task Force earlier this month added the United Arab Emirates to a “gray list” of countries seen as having shortcomings in dealing with illicit finance.

“If somebody wants to buy a yacht, it’s difficult,” said Behne. “The banks are shaking like crazy.” 

Russians make up the biggest percentage of current superyacht owners after U.S. citizens and almost match Americans in the number of new-build boats ordered in the past decade, according to a 2021 report from SuperYacht Times. Many of the yachts are big and showy — and thus, labor-intensive — which is an added boon to builders and designers.

Many industry representatives shrugged off the impact of sanctions , citing the culture of extreme secrecy that shrouds most workers’ awareness of their customers’ identities. Most declined to speak on the record for that reason.

‘Political Statements’

“It’s very hard for a company to make political statements about this,” said Farouk Nefzi, chief marketing officer at Dutch yacht builder Feadship. Out of the 490 boats the company has made since 1949, only eight have been for Russian clients, he said, and the firm frequently monitors sanctions lists in Europe and the U.S.  

Meanwhile, there’s no shortage of scrutiny on the comings and goings of superyachts, especially those of Russia’s richest people and those considered close to Vladimir Putin. News organizations have followed their every move. So has the Florida teen who soared to fame tracking Elon Musk’s private jet.

Satellite data collected over the past two weeks indicate a pattern of Russian-owned boats retreating from European waters for non-EU territory. A few Russian yachts have docked in Dubai, including “A,” a 143-meter sailing boat owned by fertilizer magnate Andrey Melnichenko , and Madame Gu, a blue-and-white Dutch-built ship belonging to the family of investor and Duma member Andrey Skoch. There’s no evidence the movements are linked to the war.

The sanctions pose a quandary for the industry, which is having to navigate an image crisis like never before. 

Logistical Questions

Then there’s the logistics. 

Superyachts are so large that a given shipyard can only handle a few projects at one time. It’s extremely likely that many of the custom ships under construction are Russian-owned, said Sam Tucker, head of superyachts at maritime data company VesselsValue. Sanctions bar builders from receiving payments from affected individuals or companies, and the partially-completed hulls, too vast to move, are taking away precious space to construct vessels for clients who can pay.

The competition for space is so fierce that offers for unfinished superyachts of sanctioned Russians have already started pouring in, people at the Dubai show said. The projects take many vendors and many years, and with the outcome of the war still uncertain, wealthy buyers are vying to take over contracts partway through.

Transferring the contracts could pose a problem down the road if sanctions are suddenly lifted. It’s yet another hypothetical in an already foggy future.

“Who knows,” said Thomas Wieringa, marketing director for shipbuilder Damen Yachting, referring to the effect on shipyards. “We were in Miami three weeks ago — nobody was expecting anything.”

© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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West hits Russian oligarchs where it hurts — their mega-yachts

By Megan Cerullo

March 7, 2022 / 1:55 PM EST / MoneyWatch

The U.S. and European Union are cracking down on sanctions against Russian billionaires by taking control of their mega yachts and other valuable assets, including villas and private jets, parked in territory over which their governments have jurisdiction. 

Italy on Friday said it seized a $70 million yacht moored in Liguria, Italy, belonging to Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov, a steel magnate with close ties to the Kremlin. 

"Italy's police has just seized 'Lady M Yacht' - a €65 million yacht belonging to Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov located in Imperia (Liguria) - in compliance with the recent EU sanctions," Ferdinando Giugliano, a media adviser to Italy's prime minister, said in a tweet.

Italy’s police has just seized “Lady M Yacht” - a €65m yacht belonging to Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov located in Imperia (Liguria) - in compliance with the recent EU sanctions. pic.twitter.com/8NzqkXH7lE — Ferdinando Giugliano (@FerdiGiugliano) March 4, 2022

On Saturday, Italy's tax police also froze "Lena," a $54 million yacht belonging to Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko, the founder of a Moscow, Russia-based private investment group and close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the EU has sanctioned.

Assets that cannot be moved are even easier to take possession of, or prevent their owners from accessing. 

Italy also froze a $3.2 million property in Tuscany belonging to Oleg Savchenko, who is among the richest Russian business people. Giugliano tweeted an image of a Ministry of Economy and Finance vehicle in front of the estate, named "Villa Lazzareschi." 

Italy’s tax police also froze “Lena” - a €50m yacht belonging to Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko located in Sanremo (Liguria) - and “Villa Lazzareschi” - a €3m property belonging to Oleg Savchenko located in the province of Lucca (Tuscany). pic.twitter.com/yc1Q2y4d0G — Ferdinando Giugliano (@FerdiGiugliano) March 5, 2022

President Biden has also said the U.S. government is homing in on Russian oligarchs' super-yachts, private planes and other conspicuous symbols of their wealth as Russian President Vladimir Putin escalates his country's attack on Ukraine.  

A new federal task force, dubbed "KleptoCapture," will take aim at what Mr. Biden described in his State of the Union address on Tuesday as "the crimes of Russian oligarchs."  

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

More than a dozen Russian billionaires are under sanction by the U.S., European Union and the United Kingdom, and some are trying to dodge restrictions by moving assets that are mobile — including mega-yachts — into territories where sanctions don't apply and where their property cannot be seized or their assets frozen. 

The super-yacht "Graceful," believed to be owned by Vladimir Putin himself, left Germany two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine and recently docked in Kaliningrad, near Russia's nuclear weapons operations, data form MarineTraffic, a maritime tracking website, shows. 

Putin ally Roman Abramovich, who made his fortune in the energy business, is not currently on any government sanction lists, but is making moves to unload valuable assets, including Chelsea Football Club. Among those assets is a super-yacht named "Eclipse" that is the third largest pleasure vessel in the world, measuring more than 540 feet long and 72 feet wide, according to Marine Vessel Traffic, a website that tracks the location of ships and other vessels, including privately owned yachts. It recently set sail from St. Barts to Philipsburg, the capital of Sint Maarten — the Dutch side of the Caribbean island Saint Martin.

"Le Grand Bleu," owned by Russian oil titan Eugene Shvidler, is also anchored off the island of St. Martin, where EU sanctions can be enforced. 

Too big to hide

Some oligarchs on sanction lists, who are alleged to have built their wealth in Russia through political corruption, have already been cut off from their own valuable assets. 

The EU's sanctions on Russian oligarchs on Wednesday led to Germany's freezing of a yacht owned by Alisher Usmanov, one of the wealthiest Russians, according to a Forbes report . According to Marine Traffic, the 512-foot yacht, named "Dilbar," had been stationed in Hamburg, Germany, since October 29 for repairs. 

The French Ministry of Economy and Finance on Thursday said its customs agents seized the "Amore Vero" yacht belonging to a company owned by Igor Setchine, director of Russian oil company Rosneft. The yacht had been stationed for repairs in La Ciotat in Southern France's Cote d'Azur region. 

While the crew's intention was to "sail urgently, without having completed the planned work," it was seized before it could depart, the agency said. 

Fleeing hotspots

In hopes of avoiding the same fate, some yacht owners are "hightailing it on the high seas," financier and anti-corruption activist Bill Browder told CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge. 

They are mooring their mega-yachts, some with 100-member-crews, in places like Dubai and the Maldives — a nation of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean, which does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. "They're parking their assets where they cannot be seized," Browder told CBS MoneyWatch. 

The problem is that ships of this size can't stay indefinitely in a place like the Maldives, which can generate significant income through docking fees, given their need to refuel and stock provisions. 

"There are a number of these yachts in the Maldives, and unless those countries put sanctions in place they're probably safer there," Alasdair Milroy, a maritime accountant and owner of Breaking the Mould Accounting, told CBS MoneyWatch. "But you can only spend so long in someplace like the Maldives on a yacht of that size without needing provisions, or to refuel, so I don't know how well that will last for a longer period. I don't think they'll be able to do that for that long."

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who is in charge of the new U.S. task force targeting Russian oligarchs, issued a stark warning: "We will use every tool to freeze and seize your criminal proceeds," she said in a statement.

Confiscating Russian oligarchs' wealth could be an effective tactic, Browder told CBS MoneyWatch. "It's hugely symbolic, and part of this thing is psychological war. This really has an impact — if not financially, then psychologically."

At least 10 of the 100 largest super-yachts in the world belong to Russian oligarchs, according to Marine Vessel Traffic .

Websites tracking maritime activity show that other oligarchs' yachts are on the move as their owners attempt to shield their assets from seizure. The "Galactica Super Nova," a 230-foot long, $80 million vessel owned by Vagit Alekperov, president of Russian oil company Lukoil, recently left its mooring in Barcelona, Spain, where EU sanctions apply, and set sail for Tivat, Montenegro, in the Balkans, according to VesselFinder.com.  

"Clio," a super-yacht owned by Russian industrialist Oleg Deripaska, is currently anchored off of the Maldives, according to MarineTraffic.com . A handful of other oligarch-owned mega-yachts are also moored in the Maldives, including Alexander Abramov's "Titan," Viktor Rashnikov's "Ocean Victory" and Vladimir Potanin's "Nirvana." 

How sanctions work

Placing an individual or their assets under official sanction does not give another government the legal authority to seize their assets — only to freeze or cut off their owner's access. 

"Generally speaking, sanctions are the authority that allow us to freeze assets. They are most easily understood in context of a bank account — it's literally put into a frozen account that still exists and collects interest and you own it, but you can't get any money from it," said Adam M. Smith, a partner at law firm Gibson Dunn. 

Tangible property must also be under the jurisdiction of the U.S. for any sanctions to work, or for the government to cut off their owner's ability to use an asset like a private yacht or jet. 

Daniel P. Ahn, a sanctions and economic warfare expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and former chief economist for the U.S. State Department, said that targeting an individual's yacht can limit its use even it isn't seized.

"If it arrives in the West, any port that can refuel is not allowed to do that anymore. So maybe the yacht itself doesn't get seized, but it's a lot less useful thing to have," he said. 

For this reason, sanctioned individuals may choose to try to sell assets like yachts at a loss, rather than risk losing use of them indefinitely. 

"If I was an oligarch, the first thing I would do is I would protest and say I shouldn't be blacklisted. Second would be to see if I can liquidate these assets and claw back something, knowing that otherwise it may rot at the pier without proper maintenance and the like," Ahn said.

As far as their impact goes, the sanctions are more than merely symbolic, he added. "The ultimate objective is to make life very difficult for these oligarchs, and it has been achieved," Ahn said. 

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News Streaming to discuss her reporting.

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Iran, Russia and China show off their ships in a joint naval drill in the Gulf of Oman

In this photo provided Tuesday, March 12, 2024, by the Iranian Army, an Iranian military boat patrols as a warship enters the Iranian waters prior to start of a joint naval drill of Iran, Russia and China in the Indian Ocean. Iran has stepped up its military cooperation with Beijing and Moscow in response to regional tensions with the United States, including by supplying military drones to Russia before the European nation invaded Ukraine in 2022. (Iranian Army via AP)

In this photo provided Tuesday, March 12, 2024, by the Iranian Army, warships enter the Iranian waters prior to the start of a joint naval drill of Iran, Russia and China in the Indian Ocean. Iran has stepped up its military cooperation with Beijing and Moscow in response to regional tensions with the United States, including by supplying military drones to Russia before the European nation invaded Ukraine in 2022. (Iranian Army via AP)

In this photo provided Tuesday, March 12, 2024, by the Iranian Army, a catamaran moves in the Iranian waters prior to the start of a joint naval drill of Iran, Russia and China in the Indian Ocean. Iran has stepped up its military cooperation with Beijing and Moscow in response to regional tensions with the United States, including by supplying military drones to Russia before the European nation invaded Ukraine in 2022. (Iranian Army via AP)

In this photo provided Tuesday, March 12, 2024, by the Iranian Army, a military ship moves in the Iranian waters prior to the start of a joint naval drill of Iran, Russia and China in the Indian Ocean. Iran has stepped up its military cooperation with Beijing and Moscow in response to regional tensions with the United States, including by supplying military drones to Russia before the European nation invaded Ukraine in 2022. (Iranian Army via AP)

FILE - In this image made from video provide by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on March 18, 2023, warships are seen during Russia, China and Iran joint naval exercise in the Arabian Sea. Iran will begin a joint naval drill with Russia and China in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, state media reported Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — China, Iran and Russia have begun a joint naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, a crucial waterway near the mouth of the Persian Gulf, officials said Tuesday.

Footage aired by Chinese state television and a video released by the Russian navy showed the ongoing drill, known as “Marine Security Belt 2024.”

China sent the guided-missile destroyer Urumqi and the guided-missile frigate Linyi to the exercise. Russia’s forces are being led by the Varyag, a Slava-class cruiser.

More than 20 ships, support vessels and combat boats from the three countries, as well as naval helicopters, are involved in the exercise.

A report by Iranian state television quoted the drill’s spokesperson, Adm. Mostafa Tajaddini, as saying the drill will take place in 17,000 square kilometers (6,600 square miles) of water.

Tajaddini added that the three nations’ drill — their fourth since 2019 — was also meant to improve trade, confront “piracy and terrorism, support to humanitarian activities and the exchange of information in the field of rescue,” among other goals.

Iran has stepped up its military cooperation with Beijing and Moscow in response to regional tensions with the United States , including due to supplying military drones to Russia now being used in Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan and South Africa are observers of the drill.

The Gulf of Oman has seen a series of attacks since 2019 that the U.S. has blamed on Iran, as well as ship seizures by Tehran, since the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers. A fifth of all oil traded passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf’s narrow mouth.

From Russia, Elaborate Tales of Fake Journalists

As the Ukraine war grinds on, the Kremlin has created increasingly complex fabrications online to discredit Ukraine’s leader and undercut aid. Some have a Hollywood-style plot twist.

Credit... Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times

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By Steven Lee Myers

• Published March 18, 2024 Updated March 21, 2024

A young man calling himself Mohamed al-Alawi appeared in a YouTube video in August. He described himself as an investigative journalist in Egypt with a big scoop: The mother-in-law of Ukraine’s president had purchased a villa near Angelina Jolie’s in El Gouna, a resort town on the Red Sea.

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The story, it turned out, was not true. Ukraine denied it, and the owner of the villa refuted it. Also disconnected from reality: Alawi’s claim to being a journalist.

Still, his story caromed through social media and news outlets from Egypt to Nigeria and ultimately to Russia — which, according to researchers, is where the story all began.

The story seemed to fade, but not for long. Four months later, two new videos appeared on YouTube. They said Mohamed al-Alawi had been beaten to death in Hurghada, a town about 20 miles south of El Gouna. The suspected killers, according to the videos: Ukraine’s secret service agents.

These claims were no more factual than the first, but they gave new life to the old lie. Another round of posts and news reports ultimately reached millions of internet users around the world, elevating the narrative so much that it was even echoed by members of the U.S. Congress while debating continued military assistance to Ukraine.

Ever since its forces invaded two years ago , Russia has unleashed a torrent of disinformation to try to discredit Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, and undermine the country’s support in the West.

This saga, though, introduced a new gambit: a protracted and elaborately constructed narrative built online around a fictitious character and embellished with seemingly realistic detail and a plot twist worthy of Netflix.

“They never brought back a character before,” said Darren Linvill, a professor and director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, who has extensively studied Russian disinformation.

The campaign shows how deftly Russia’s information warriors have shifted to new tactics and targets as the war in Ukraine has dragged on, just as Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine have adjusted tactics after devastating battlefield losses.

Groups with ties to the Kremlin continue to float new narratives when old ones fail to stick or grow stale, using fake or altered videos or recordings and finding or creating new outlets to spread disinformation, including ones purporting to be American news sites .

A video appeared on TikTok last month claiming to show a Ukrainian doctor working for Pfizer accusing the company of conducting unlawful tests on children. On the social network X, a man claiming to be an associate producer for Paramount Pictures spun a tale about a Hollywood biopic on Mr. Zelensky’s life.

The tale attributed to Mohamed al-Alawi is not even the only baseless allegation that Mr. Zelensky had secretly purchased properties abroad using Western financial assistance. Other versions — each seemingly tailored for a specific geographic audience — have detailed a mansion in Vero Beach, Fla., and a retreat in Germany once used by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda.

The Russians have “demonstrated adaptability through the war on Ukraine,” Microsoft wrote in a recent report that disclosed Russia’s fraudulent use of recorded messages by famous actors and celebrities on the Cameo app to try to smear Mr. Zelensky as a drug addict.

Even when debunked, fabrications like these have proved exceedingly difficult to extinguish entirely.

YouTube took down the initial video of the character Mohamed al-Alawi, linking it to two other accounts that had previously violated the company’s policies. The accusation still circulates, however, especially on platforms, like X and Telegram, that experts say do little to block accounts generating inauthentic or automated activity. Some of the posts about the video appear to have used text or audio created with artificial intelligence tools; many are amplified by networks of bots intended to create the impression that the content is popular.

What links the narratives to Russia is not only the content disparaging Ukraine but also the networks that circulate them. They include news outlets and social media accounts that private and government researchers have linked to previous Kremlin campaigns.

“They’re trolling for a susceptible (and seemingly abundant) slice of citizens who amplify their garbage enough to muddy the waters of our discourse, and from there our policies,” said Rita Katz, the director of the SITE Intelligence Group, an American company that tracks extremist activity online and investigated the false claims about the villa.

The Making of a Fake Journalist

The video first appeared on Aug. 20 on a newly created YouTube account that had no previous activity and almost no followers, according to the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, a global nonprofit research organization in London, which traced the video’s spread.

The man appeared in a poorly lit room reading from his computer screen, which was reflected in his thick glasses. He appeared to be a real person, but it has not been possible to verify his actual identity. No one by the name of Mohamed al-Alawi appears to have produced any previous articles or videos, as would be expected of a journalist. According to ActiveFence, an internet security company, the character has no educational or work history, and no network of friends or social connections online.

The video, though, showed what purported to be photographs of a purchase contract and of the villa itself, creating a veneer of authenticity for credulous viewers. The property is, in fact, part of a resort owned by Orascom Development, whose website highlights El Gouna’s “year-round sunshine, shimmering lagoons, sandy beaches and azure waters.”

An article about the video’s claim appeared two days later as a paid advertisement, or branded content, on Punch, a news outlet in Nigeria, as well as three other Nigerian websites that aggregate news and entertainment content.

The article had the byline of Arthur Nkono, who according to internet searches does not appear to have written any other articles. The article quoted a political scientist, Abdrulrahman Alabassy, who likewise appears not to exist except in accounts linking the villa to the corrupt use of Western financial aid to Ukraine. (Punch, which later removed the post, did not respond to requests for comment.)

A day later, the claim made its first appearance on X in a post by Sonja van den Ende, an activist in the Netherlands, whose articles have previously appeared on propaganda outlets linked to the Russian government, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. (She also served as an election observer in an occupied territory of Ukraine during Russian parliamentary elections in September.)

Within days, reports about the villa appeared on X in French and Romanian, and in English on three different Reddit forums.

According to Roberta Duffield, director of intelligence for Blackbird.AI, an internet security company, nearly 29 percent of the accounts amplifying the reports appeared to be inauthentic bots, an unusually high number that would normally indicate a coordinated campaign.

Eight days after the video appeared, Russia state television networks like Channel One, Rossiya 24 and RT (in Arabic and German) reported it as a major revelation uncovered by a renowned Egyptian investigative journalist.

The story seemed to stall there. Naguib Sawiris, the scion of the Egyptian family that owned the development, curtly denied the sale in a reply on X.

And no more was heard from or about the character called Mohamed al-Alawi — until late December.

That was when two new videos emerged on a YouTube channel called “Egypt News,” claiming that he was dead.

The channel had been created the day before. One video showed a man identified as Alawi’s brother, Ahmed, answering questions from another man.

The police, he said, told him that they suspected his brother had been beaten to death by “Ukrainian special forces who acted on behalf of President Zelensky or another high-ranking official.”

He spoke with his hand cupped over his face to obscure his identity. The other video showed what was said to be the site of an attack, though the images were indistinct. “I can’t tell you anything else,” he said in the video, which YouTube later removed. “I’m afraid for my family.”

The video also tried to explain away some of the obvious holes in the initial story, including why there was no evidence online of Alawi’s previous work. “It was his first big assignment,” the man said.

The new episode spread as the first video had. A day later, an article about the death appeared on an obscure website created last year called El Mostaqbal, a name similar to but unrelated to the actual news organization in Lebanon.

“A reporter who announced that Zelensky’s mother-in-law brought a luxury villa has died under mysterious circumstances,” the headline read. Other reports that followed dropped any uncertainty and began referring to his “murder.”

In fact, Egypt’s Ministry of the Interior said there were no reports or evidence that anyone resembling the man in the video had been “subjected to harm.” The statement went on to note that the property itself had not been sold.

Still, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, posts about the supposed killing were viewed a million times on X on Dec. 25.

It also appeared on the website of the Middle East Monitor, or MEMO, operated by a well-known nonprofit organization in London and financed by the government of Qatar. A journalist who once reported from Moscow for The Telegraph of London, Ben Aris, cited it at length on the platform, though, when challenged, he said he had just made note of the rumor. “I don’t have time to check all this stuff myself,” he wrote.

It appeared in English on a site, Clear Story News, that Mr. Linvill of Clemson’s Media Forensics Hub had previously linked to Russia’s disinformation efforts. (The site lists no contact information)

Mr. Linvill described the process as a form of “narrative laundering” — moving false claims from unknown or not credible sources to ones that, to the unwitting at least, seem more legitimate.

More Elaborate Narratives

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue studied three other complex narratives about Ukraine, as well.

One featured a French journalist who claimed that the son of George Soros — a regular target of Russian and far-right political attacks — had secretly acquired land for a toxic waste dump in Ukraine. An unnamed doctor in Africa said in another that an American medical charity, the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group, was harvesting the organs of wounded Ukrainian soldiers for transplants for NATO officers.

Then there was the case of a man calling himself Shahzad Nasir, whose profile on X identifies him as a journalist with Emirates 24/7, an English-language news outlet in Dubai, though he has no apparent bylines on the site.

In November, he claimed that cronies of Mr. Zelensky bought two yachts — Lucky Me and My Legacy — for $75 million. His evidence, like Mohamed al-Alawi’s, includes photographs of the vessels and purported purchase agreements.

In fact, as the BBC documented in December, the yachts had not been purchased and remained for sale. Despite numerous efforts by fact checkers to dispel it as rumor, the claim circulated extensively.

Last month, the character Nasir reappeared in another video. This time he had a new version of the tale, claiming that the purchases had been scuttled after he exposed the secret deal.

The ramifications of these campaigns are difficult to measure precisely. There are signs, though, that they resonate even when proved false.

Senator J.D. Vance, a Republican of Ohio and an outspoken critic of Ukraine aid, seemed to embrace the claim in December during an interview on “War Room,” the podcast hosted by Stephen K. Bannon, the onetime adviser to former President Donald J. Trump.

“There are people who would cut Social Security — throw our grandparents into poverty — why?” Mr. Vance said. “So that one of Zelensky’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht?”

That prompted a public rebuke this month from a Republican colleague, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who ridiculed those who repeat unproven allegations.

“They’ve heard somebody say that if we pass this bill, that we’re all going to go ride to Kyiv with buckets full of money and let oligarchs buy yachts!” he said of critics of the assistance to Ukraine, in what he later called a reference to Mr. Vance’s comments. “I wonder how the spouses of the estimated 25,000 soldiers in Ukraine who have died feel about that? I mean, really, guys?”

Karoun Demirjian contributed reporting.

Audio produced by Parin Behrooz .

An earlier version of this article misstated, in one reference, the name of a group at Clemson University that studies disinformation. It is the Media Forensics Hub, not the Digital Media Hub.

How we handle corrections

Steven Lee Myers covers misinformation for The Times. He has worked in Washington, Moscow, Baghdad and Beijing, where he contributed to the articles that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2021. He is also the author of “The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin.” More about Steven Lee Myers

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

Russian missiles streaked into Kyiv  in the biggest assault on the Ukrainian capital in weeks, injuring several people and damaging several buildings.

Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s top national security official, made a secret trip to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and reaffirm the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine.

Under pressure to come up with billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s military, the E.U. said that it had devised a legal way to use frozen Russian assets  to help arm Ukraine.

Symbolism or Strategy?: Ukrainians say that defending places with little strategic value is worth the cost in casualties and weapons , because the attacking Russians pay an even higher price. American officials aren’t so sure.

Elaborate Tales: As the Ukraine war grinds on, the Kremlin has created increasingly complex fabrications online  to discredit Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, and undermine the country’s support in the West.

Targeting Russia’s Oil Industry: With its army short of ammunition and troops to break the deadlock on the battlefield, Kyiv has increasingly taken the fight beyond the Ukrainian border, attacking oil infrastructure deep in Russian territory .

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .

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I tutored the children of Russia's elite amid the backdrop of war. One teenager said he had his own massage therapist.

• I used to teach the children of Russian oligarchs and politicians.
• Our classrooms were penthouse apartments, yachts, and mansions in exclusive Moscow suburbs.
• The outbreak of war in Ukraine revealed just how isolated the kids were. 

This essay is based on the recollections of Cameron Manley, 24, a news fellow at Business Insider who previously worked as a private tutor in Moscow and, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Monaco. The names of students have been changed to protect their identity.

In late 2021, I started working for an international tutoring agency in Moscow.

The agency counted some of Russia's elite among its clientele — so I was quickly thrust into a world of private jets, guarded estates, and personal chauffeurs.

I worked in Moscow until Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when I was relocated to Monaco.

We charged $150 per hour minimum for classes, but more experienced tutors and specific packages for private-school assessments or English-language testing would cost more.

Tutoring does not require any kind of formal qualification, but parents were still often happy to part with their cash as long as the tutors had a native-English accent and some connection to either the British private school system or some of the UK's top universities.

$150 was also small change for many of these families, which was reflected in the various classroom settings — Monaco penthouses, Moscow mansions, and yachts.

The money the Russian elite were willing to throw at young, inexperienced tutors was unbelievable — and frankly quite frightening.

I had acquaintances who worked as governors or nannies who were earning well into six figures.

Others were offered similarly extortionate salaries to spend their summers teaching on yachts in places like St. Barts in the Caribbean or sailing around the world.

I taught in luxurious villas and penthouse apartments

Often the children we taught, who were from four to around 18 years old, had private drivers who hurried them about in tinted Range Rovers or Mercedes-Benz cars.

In Moscow, many of our classes took place in Rublevka, an elite guarded estate in the west of the capital, where Russian President Vladimir Putin owns a home.

Many of the kids we taught lived in a world entirely different from any we had known.

A colleague of mine did after-school classes there with an eight-year-old boy called Ivan.

One week his family had been planning a weekend trip to get away from the capital: "I hope the weather isn't too bad so we can take the helicopter and don't have to drive," he said.

We also homeschooled two pupils: Alexei, 13, and his younger sister, Elena, 11.

The first time I met Alexei, he walked into our office sporting $1,000 Balenciaga trainers and a watch worth at least five times as much.

He was nevertheless a pleasant child but, like Ivan, appeared somewhat disconnected from reality.

In one class, he was shocked to hear that we didn't receive regular pampering from staff at home: "It's been seven months since you had a massage? I have a massage every day, I have my own massage therapist," he told us.

Elena was less communicative and didn't seem to enjoy the lavish lifestyle she had.

"What have I done to deserve this? I hate my life," she would often say.

My colleagues and I became increasingly concerned about her well-being as time went on.

She didn't enjoy classes alone and wanted to be with friends in a normal school.

But her parents insisted.

She seem tied to the life into which she had been born.

The job constantly surprised me

I met two types of parents in the job: Those who spent thousands of dollars on their children because they cared about them, and those who spent the money so that they didn't have to think about them.

I felt that many of the parents fell into the latter category.

Related stories

Frequently, we had little, if any, contact with the parents, and we would usually deal with nannies or drivers instead.

It felt like many of the parents found you to be an eye-sore in their luxurious lives.

Once, I had to teach a lesson at a seaside villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, an exclusive area between Nice in the south of France and Monaco.

The home was on a private road, and I entered through a large automatic gate that was littered with security cameras.

The house was spread out over two floors, with a swimming pool, a fully-equipped gym, a sauna, and a steam room.

When I arrived, they told me that the kids, aged four and six, had not finished their personal training session and that I would have to wait outside in the street.

Eventually the nanny said she would find me somewhere to sit "out of sight," so I was hurried into a large store cupboard in the furthest corner of the house. The kids strolled in about an hour later.

Some tried to get their children out of Russia after the invasion began

When the war in Ukraine broke out, a number of families came to us looking to find school placements for their children either in the West or in the United Arab Emirates , where many wealthy Russians fled at the outbreak of the war.

There was one family with three young children who were looking to find schools in Dubai.

Speaking to us in perfect English on Zoom with a background that boasted enormous paintings and palatial pillars, they seemed polite, well-mannered, and bright.

We later discovered that the kids were the grandchildren of a senior Russian politician who had played a major role in starting the war in Ukraine.

The irony was not lost on us that some of those who had played a key part in helping Putin initiate his brutal, unprovoked invasion were now trying to help their children escape Russia.

The children often brought up politics and the war

The company we worked for had explicitly told us to avoid discussing politics with the pupils, as the government was cracking down on protestors, and it could have put us and our pupils in danger.

But the children often brought the topic up themselves, their comments ringing with the ideology they had likely absorbed at home.

"Ukraine is ours, after all," Alexei told me in one class just after the invasion began in February.

Ivan, referring to a picture of Putin, once said, "Oh, he's amazing! Don't you think he's amazing?"

"You should open an office in Kyiv. It's beautiful there," one parent also wryly said to me.

There were occasional breakthroughs

We taught many different pupils but only one really seemed to appreciate just how lucky they were.

Elizaveta, 15, frequently expressed her discontent with Putin's Russia.

"We're killing thousands of innocent Ukrainians. It's awful," she once said.

That week, she had been kicked out of school for dyeing her hair and had asked her parents to book some additional classes so that she didn't fall behind.

Her parents were looking to send her to an English private school that September.

"The best thing I can do now is leave Russia," she told me. "That's the last option I have. Perhaps from abroad, I might be able to do some good."

Elizaveta was an anomaly, and most of the time, you had to settle for smaller victories.

I distinctly remember telling our homeschooled pupils that my colleagues and I had decided to leave Russia .

Elena seemed like she could not have cared less.

But Alexei looked genuinely upset.

It was as though the prism through which he saw the world had been, if not broken, then at the very least a little scratched.

Watch: VIDEO: How Russian media manufactured an alternate reality about the war in Ukraine

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