The mystery of the £500m superyacht ‘owned by Vladimir Putin’

A small Italian town on the Tuscan coast is the epicentre of an investigation into one of the world’s biggest, newest and most expensive superyachts.

The Guardian said the “mysterious 140-metre-long, six-floor” vessel called the Scheherazade is under scrutiny by the Italian police and locals alike over the identity of its owner.

Activists working with the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny are convinced that the yacht, which is worth $700m (£528m), is owned by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Researchers said that almost half of the Russian crew members they have traced were employed by Russia’s Federal Security Service, which handles security for high-ranking officials such as Putin.

“They are Russian state employees, military personnel, and they regularly travel to Italy as a group to work on the mysterious yacht,” investigative journalist Maria Pevchikh wrote on Twitter.

However, the ship’s captain, Guy Bennett-Pearce, a British national, denied that Putin owned the yacht or had even set foot on it. “I have never seen him. I have never met him,” he told The New York Times, adding that its owner was not on any sanctions list.

The NYT said that, even for the “hyper-confidential world of superyachting,” there is an “unusual degree of secrecy” surrounding this vessel. Contractors and crew members sign non-disclosure agreements and the ship has a cover to hide its name plate. A tall metal barrier has been erected on the pier to partly obscure the yacht from onlookers.

The Sun said the “sickening luxury”enjoyed by Vladimir Putin on board includes “countless swimming pools, a spa, a sauna, a theatre, ballrooms, a gym, and two helipads”. Bathrooms are “adorned with gold toilet-roll holders and taps” and the vessel is even equipped with its own hospital.

“Personal touches for the despot” include a judo gym which has framed pictures of black belts, said The Sun, along with “the biggest TV on a yacht”, stretching 4.5m across an entire wall, which cost a million euros to install.

Tory MP Tom Tugendhat told the tabloid that “Putin’s pampered nautical palace” was “launched with cash stolen off the Russian people and now floats off the Italian Riviera showing us all the action we should take”.

Speaking to the Italian parliament yesterday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Italian authorities to seize the yacht. “Don’t be a resort for murderers,” he said. “Lock all their real estate, accounts and yachts – from the Scheherazade to the smallest ones.”

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/956177/vladimir-putin-superyacht-italy