The crew of a Russian oligarch's $600 million superyacht was fired after sanctions meant wages couldn't be paid, reports say

The crew of the 512-foot superyacht was fired after Western sanctions prevented wages from being paid.

The normal operation of the yacht has stopped and the crew had to be dismissed, according to an email from the yacht-management company.

The West has imposed massive sanctions on Russia in order to pressure it to end the invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions have also been imposed on Russian elites, including seizing assets, as well as targeting Russian banks.

The European Union, UK, US, and Switzerland have all imposed sanctions on him, freezing his assets and banning him from entering their territory. The EU says that the Russian government supported the destabilization of Ukraine.

According to the UK Government, he is worth $18.4 billion. He has interests in metals, mining, and telecoms. The European Union says he has close ties to the Kremlin and is one of Putin's favorites.

The US has declared Dilbar blocked property, which prohibits US staff from working on the vessel and bars payment in US dollars.

Some of the companies supporting Dilbar's crew were unable to continue their normal lines of business because of the sanctions, according to Forbes. The crew of the ship would not be paid their salaries by the ship's owner, but by the boat's owner, according to Forbes.

The captain of the yacht wrote in a message to the crew that they had reached the end of the road of possibilities and had tried all avenues to find a solution to keep the team in place.

The US Treasury says Dilbar is worth between $600 and $735 million.

It is claimed that it is the largest motor yacht in the world by gross tonnage.

The ship usually has 96 crew on board, according to Forbes, while the figure was 80 by Bloomberg.

In the email to the crew, Sarnia said that a small number of staff from LFCrssen, the company that owns the shipyard where Dilbar has been docked for a refitting since October, would look after the safety and security of the ship.

On March 2, Forbes reported that Dilbar had been seized by German authorities, but the correction was issued the next day. Dilbar wouldn't be able to leave the port until it got an export waiver from Germany's federal customs agency.

Lürssen didn't comment. The Ministry for Economy and Innovation of Sarnia Yachts did not respond to Insider's request for comment.