A superyacht linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich docked Tuesday in the Turkish resort town of Marmaris, according to a port source, a day after another of his yachts arrived in nearby Bodrum, also in the southwest of the country.
The Eclipse, one of the largest yachts in the world with 162.5 meters in length and sailing under the Bermuda flag, arrived in Marmaris after sailing to the southeast of the Greek islands of Crete and Rhodes, according to data from Marine Traffic.
The data also showed that the Solaris superyacht remained moored in Bodrum, about 80 km (50 miles) away, after skirting the waters of the European Union countries, which have sanctioned the oligarch for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
There was no indication that Abramovich was on board any of the ships. He is one of the wealthy Russians who were added last week to a blacklist established by the European Union, and the EU governments have acted in recent days to confiscate yachts and other luxury goods from them. Abramovich was also hit by punitive measures in the United Kingdom, where assets were frozen and banned from traveling.
Turkey, a member of NATO, which maintains close relations with Russia and Ukraine, has not joined these punitive measures.
The Eclipse reportedly has two helipads, nine decks, a swimming pool and built-in missile defenses.
Governments around the world are trying to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies because of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a “special military operation.”
Last week, Abramovich flew to Moscow from Istanbul on his private jet. According to flight tracking data, this was the second flight of an Abramovich-linked aircraft between the Turkish city and the Russian capital in three days.
A spokesman for Abramovich did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The 140-meter-long Solaris yacht, which also sails under the Bermuda flag, according to Marine Traffic, docked in Bodrum on Monday afternoon, just over a week after leaving the Adriatic resort town of Tivat on March 13.
On Tuesday, a group of Ukrainians approached the “Solaris” on an inflatable boat to protest their presence in the country. “You are not welcome here”, “No to war in Ukraine”, “Go, Russian ship, go,” the protesters shouted, with a Ukrainian flag in their hands.
Both the Eclipse and the Solaris were built in German shipyards. They are among a number of yachts owned by Abramovich, as reported by luxury goods publications SuperYachtFan, SuperYacht and Forbes.
The 55-year-old Russian billionaire has owned the English football club Chelsea since 2003. In anticipation of sanctions he put it up for sale, but the transaction has been frozen because of this situation.
This man's fortune was valued at around £9.4 billion (10.7 billion euros, 11.76 billion dollars) by the British government.
(With information from Reuters and AFP)
Keep reading: