A luxury yacht owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich that has been sailing without a destination for more than a week has updated its status for the first time since leaving port, suggesting that the vessel has no immediate intention of docking.
A 140-foot vessel worth $600 million is currently located off the southwest coast of Turkey and is heading west. The status of the vessel changed from awaiting orders to scenic cruising on Monday.
According to Marine Traffic, a yacht and ship can change their status whenever they want, but most likely Solaris is using the status to confuse people from where its final destination is.
There is a lot of speculation on if it will be Turkey, Israel or the U.S.
The locations of luxury assets owned by Russian billionaires are being closely monitored since sanctions were levied against many of the country's elite in response to Moscow ordering troops into Ukraine. Several European countries, including Italy and France, have seized assets from people who have been sanctioned.
The EU and the UK have banned him from doing business there because of his assets being frozen.
The Barcelona shipyard of Spanish yacht-maintenance firm MB 92 was where Solaris had been docked since late 202, but they left on March 8, just before the UK and EU imposed sanctions.
Some of Russia's wealthiest people moved their expensive boats and private jets to countries where they could protect their assets from seizure before the sanctions were announced.
Eclipse, which is worth $700 million, was located just off the coast of Crete, a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea. The yacht left St. Martin in the Caribbean on February 21 and has been sailing ever since.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
