Imposing economic sanctions against certain individuals did not have an immediate effect on the ongoing war in Ukraine, so the U.S. Department of Treasury, thɾօυɢҺ its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), is expanding designations. In other words, it’s adding more items on those sanctions lists.
This time, the “items” include more than just individuals: they are whole vessels, one very large, Russia-based luxury yacht management company and several other smaller ones, relatives of sanctioned oligarchs and their assorted businesses, andaircraft fleets. God is also included on the new list of designations, though not the one up above, but Jewish-Russian God Semenovich Nisanov, the country’s biggest and richest real estate developer.
The full list of designations is availableat the link, while the press release below offers more details. A cursory glance at the list reveals that many of the superyachts that arealready in friєɴԀly waters, in places like Turkey and Dubai, having rushed to safety as soon as sanctions went up, are now included. The U.S. is choosing to forgo the whole orԀєɑł about having toestablish actual ownershipfrom paper ownership, and is targeting vessels directly.
There’sThe Flying Fox, the largest superyacht offered for charter in the world and the 19th by size overall, a $400 million vessel by Lurssen, owned by Dmitry Kamenschik, and which was briefly arrested in Costa Rica before it suddenly sailed off and “disappeared.” There’sMadame Guand its entire fleet of toys, including the custom (and matching) helicopter 3A-MGU and the P4-MGU private jet. Graceful, one of Putin’s many yachts and the first one to sail away to safety even before the war started, is now designated. Olympia, another one of Putin’s yachts, is also included, as are Shellest and Nega: also his, but owned on paper by Non-Profit Partnership Revival of Maritime Traditions.
Imperial Yachts, one of the largest yacht management companies in the world and the only one to offer the likes of The Flying Fox for charter, is also on the list. Owned by Evgeniy Borisovich Kochman, Imperial Yachts offers a variety of services, from charter to hiring personnel and taking care of resupplies. In this capacity, it offered Putin and his associates a”complex support network to hide, move, and maintain their wealth and luxury assets,”Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson says in a ȿτɑτємєɴτ.
Now that Imperial Yachts is sanctioned (blocked, as OFAC puts it), it can’t do business in the U.S. or with any U.S. partner for any work related to their portfolio of yachts, whether it’s for parts and service, staff and training, payroll, or supplies.
Speaking toThe Insider, a spokesperson for the company callsthe allegationsfalse, adding that they ρłɑɴ to”pursue all available legal remedies to resolve this matter promptly,”because”Imperial Yachts conducts all its businesses in full compliance with laws and regulations in all jurisdictions in which we operate. We are not involved in our clients’ financial affairs.”
