State Duma deputy and billionaire Andrey Skoch's 98-meter yacht Madame Gu worth $156 million, included in the US sanctions list, has been moored in the port of Rashid in Dubai since March 25. Her transponder has been off since early March, the Associated Press (AP) found out .
Since the beginning of the war, restrictions against Skoch have been introduced by the European Union, Great Britain and other countries. In June, the United States separately placed the yacht of the deputy Madame Gu on the sanctions list. This case shows how Russian oligarchs hide their assets in the UAE despite Western sanctions, writes AP.
Previously, the yacht was registered in the Cayman Islands and sailed in port under the UAE flag. According to satellite images, she has been in Dubai since March 25, while the transponder to track her location was turned off on March 6. According to the publication, the yacht has a helipad and a gym.
Forbes estimates Skoch's net worth at $6.6 billion and has been under US sanctions since 2018.
Earlier in May, The Observe reported that yachts linked to sanctioned Russian businessmen disappeared from tracking maps of the location of ships. The publication’s investigation says that at least six yachts associated with the Russians stopped using an automatic identification system in order to avoid the confiscation of ships. It was about the Alfa Nero yachts of the owner of Phosagro Andrey Guryev, Galactica Super Nova of the former president of Lukoil Vagit Alekperov, Clio of Oleg Deripaska, Motor Yacht A of the ex-member of the Board of Directors of EuroChem Andrey Melnichenko, Ocean Victory of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of MMK Viktor Rashnikov and My Sky businessman Igor Kesaev.
In late March, Reuters reported that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich planned to hide his yachts in Turkey. In total, since the beginning of the war, more than ten superyachts with a total value of about $ 2.3 billion have been arrested - as part of sanctions against the entourage of Russian President Vladimir Putin. For example, the authorities of the EU countries arrested Igor Sechin's 85-meter yacht worth $190 million, Alisher Usmanov's 156-meter yacht for $600 million, and Gennady Timchenko's 40-meter yacht for $50 million. Read more about what the Russian oligarchs have lost since the beginning of the war, The Insider told here .
