German authorities seize world’s biggest yacht
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Scaffolding covered in tarpaulin conceals the Dilbar superyacht at a dock in Hamburg, Germany, last March. Photo: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images
Germany's federal police said Wednesday they've seized a yacht linked to Alisher Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest people, who faces Western sanctions over the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
Why it matters: The impounding of the world's biggest superyacht by volume highlights the "wider impact" of penalties imposed by the West on super-rich Russians accused of having having close links to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, per Bloomberg.
- The seizure of more than $2.5 billion in superyachts are a symbol of the plundered wealth enjoyed for so long by Putin's cronies, Axios' Zachary Basu and Jacob Knutson note.
Driving the news: European Union sanctions lists that include Usmanov's sister, Gulbakhor Ismailova, say he "indirectly transferred assets," including the 512-foot Dilbar superyacht, to her ahead of his being sanctioned.
- German federal police tweeted that despite "offshore concealment" efforts, investigations showed that Ismailova was the yacht's legal owner.
- "The luxury yacht Dilbar is therefore subject to sanctions law and was able to be legally impounded in Hamburg," per a Bloomberg translation of the post.
By the numbers: The Dilbar has a gross tonnage of just less than 16,000, two helipads and "a 25-meter [82-foot] swimming pool, the largest ever installed on a superyacht," CNN notes.
- "This superyacht’s estimated worth is believed to be between $600 and $735 million," according to the U.S. Treasury Department. "The estimated cost to run Dilbar is $60 million per year."
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more details on the yacht, including its estimated value.
