The luxury superyacht of the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich sails adrift for fear of being embargoed in some port

Adrift, the luxury superyacht, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, has been sailing without destination for more than a week and has updated its situation for the first time since it left port, as shown by ship tracking data, suggesting that the ship has no immediate intention of docking.

As a ghost ship, the Solaris, a 140-foot ship valued at $600 million, “is currently off Turkey's southwest coast and heading west, according to the tracking website Marine Traffic,” Business Insider reported.

On Monday, the ship's status changed from “awaiting orders” to “scenic cruise” — the status it had shown since it left Tivat (Montenegro) on March 13 — as shown on the Marine Traffic website.

Georgios Hatzimanolis, a Marine Traffic spokesperson, told Business Insider that, although yachts and ships can change their status whenever they want, “it is most likely that in this case [the Solaris] is using status to confuse people about what their final destination is.”

“There is a lot of speculation as to whether it will be Turkey, Israel or even possibly the United Arab Emirates,” Hatzimanolis told that media outlet.

It should be noted that “the location of luxury assets owned by Russian oligarchs is being closely monitored since sanctions were imposed on many of the country's elite in response to Moscow ordering the entry of troops into Ukraine. European countries, including Italy and France, have already confiscated yachts, private planes and other property of several sanctioned oligarchs.”

Abramovich, who has a net worth of $13.6 billion according to Bloomberg, was sanctioned by the United Kingdom and the European Union, which means that his assets were frozen and he is prohibited from doing business there.

The Solaris had been docked at the Barcelona shipyard of the Spanish yacht maintenance company MB92 since the end of 2002, but abandoned it on March 8, shortly before Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, was affected by UK and European Union sanctions, according to BI.

Before the announcement of the sanctions, some of Russia's richest tried to move their expensive ships and private jets to jurisdictions where they could protect their assets from confiscation.

Abramovich's other superyacht, the $700 million Eclipse, according to SuperYacht Fan, was located on Monday off the coast of Crete, a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea, according to Marine Traffic. The yacht has been sailing since it left St. Martin, in the Caribbean, on February 21, according to the ship's tracking data.

It should be recalled that last week the Isle of Man, a British Crown agency that is chosen as a tax haven by tycoons from all over the world, removed the licence of at least 18 aircraft registered in that country. Among them, a helicopter linked to the superyacht of Abramovich, owner of the English club Chelsea. “The measure implies that all such aircraft cannot be flown legally in the United Kingdom or the European Union, as they need to be registered to do so.”

Located in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland, the island has an aircraft registry that includes high-end private and corporate jets, as well as helicopters. Registering the island may allow millionaires to evade taxes paid on such vehicles in other countries. The Isle of Man is known as a low-tax economy or tax haven.

As reported by The Guardian, a spokesman for the island's government said that the connection between aircraft registered in that country and Russian oligarchs is being “reviewed as a matter of the highest priority”. The same spokesman assured that the Isle of Man aircraft registry had acted “proactively and soundly” since the imposition of sanctions, working in cooperation with the United Kingdom Department of Transport.

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