Roman Abramovich’s two megayachts ‘sailing for sanctions safe haven Turkey’ after jet flies back to Moscow
ROMAN Abramovich’s two megayachts are said to be setting sail for sanctions safe haven Turkey as an assets hunt on Russian oligarchs ramps up.
The Russian billionaire’s £430m superyacht Solaris is already heading south, allegedly for Turkey, after docking in Montenegro on Sunday, according to Sky News.
His second ship, Eclipse, is off the coast of Algeria.
Brussels has followed the UK in imposing sanctions on oligarchs who support Putin, including Abramovich.
However, Turkey has said it won’t join international sanctions against, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, creating a small safe haven for oligarchs looking to escape Western officials.
It comes as there is speculation Abramovich might be planning a more permanent move to Turkey and could start his own football team there.
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The Telegraph speculates Abramovich may make a bid for Goztepe FC, which, like Chelsea in 2003, hasn’t won a league title since the 1950s.
It comes as Abramovich is thought to have landed in Moscow after fleeing his mansion in Israel, it’s been reported.
Two superyachts belonging to the battered billionaire have now set sail to evade sanctions imposed on him by the European Union, who allege he has “privileged access” to Vladimir Putin.
A private jet, which has been linked to the Russian-Israeli billionaire, has also just returned to the Russian capital where it landed at 3am on Tuesday.
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The route of the aircraft was followed by plane tracker Flightradar24 and the Russian Oligarch Jets Twitter account.
Abramovich’s two superyachts, the £430million My Solaris and the £1billion Eclipse, could also be on their way to Turkey in a bid to avoid being seized, according MarineTraffic.
My Solaris – which boasts its own helipad and missile detection system – has left Montenegro and is now sailing down the Adriatic, between Italy and Greece.
And Eclipse is making its way through the Mediterranean near Algeria after sailing from the Caribbean.
On Tuesday, the Chelsea Football Club owner had been spotted looking dishevelled in Israel’s Ben Gurion airport shortly before his jet took off for Istanbul.
Photos showed the Chelsea owner sitting alone in the airport’s VIP lounge with a face mask pulled down over his chin.
He was seen peering at his phone while glancing overhead.
It’s understood the billionaire drove from his £65million mansion towards the airport earlier in the day.
And his luxury Gulfstream G650ER jet – registered LX-Ray – landed in Turkey just after 3pm on Monday before continuing his route.
Abramovich, who also holds Portuguese citizenship, was among seven Russian billionaires added to the British sanctions list last week.
The EU has now followed suit, saying Abramovich enjoys “privileged access” to Vladimir Putin, Politico reports.
It’s claimed these “very good relations” helped to line his own pockets in industries that offered “a substantial source of revenue” to the Kremlin, helping Moscow fund its invasion of Ukraine.
The move is part of efforts to isolate Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said the country’s financial, banking and aviation authorities were looking into the issue of Russian oligarch’s in the country.
In a statement made while on a visit to Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, he said: “Israel will not be a route to bypass sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and other Western countries.”
Abramovich, who has denied having close ties to Putin, gained Israeli citizenship in 2018, quickly putting him in the top three wealthiest men in Israel.
It comes as the UK impounded a private jet connected to the Russian oligarch at Farnborough Airport, according to CNBC.
He also had £3.2billion of UK assets frozen by the British government over his alleged close ties to Putin – stopping him from selling his share of Chelsea.
Abramovich is worth £10.4billion, according to Forbes, and owns a £150million mansion in Kensington, a £33milliion West London penthouse and yachts, private jets, helicopters and supercars worth more than £1.2billion
Chelsea on Friday had their accounts frozen, after sanctions came in to ban the club from selling tickets and merchandise.
Telecom firm sponsors Three pulled out of their £40million-a-year deal with the club, and the team has two weeks to find a new buyer who can fork out the £28million per month wage bill or go into administration.
The Government said it is prepared to approve the 117-year-old club’s sale as long as Abramovich does not receive a penny.
At least four yachts and a private jet owned by Russians or their families have managed to escape the sanctions brought by the West by spiriting them away.
According to Flightradar24, Abramovich’s jet left Moscow’s Knukovo International Airport on Sunday at 16:43 local time and flew through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Turkey before landing in Tel Aviv at 21:18.
One Twitter user has posted the jet’s flight record over the past few weeks.
The plane flew to Moscow from Baku, Azerbaijan, on March 1 and later left for Istanbul and flew to the Ankara the following day, where it stayed before returning to Istanbul on March 4.
On Sunday, it left Istanbul for Moscow before making the trip to Ben-Gurion Airport.
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Abramovich’s 787 Dreamliner was also seen moving between Moscow and Dubai in early March while a helicopter belonging to the billionaire was tracked flying arounds islands in Bermuda in late February, according to the Times of Israel.
It comes as the US warned Israel not to become a safe haven for Russian money.