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16 superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs

Western sanctions over moscow's invasion of ukraine led to many luxury vessels being detained in europe.

Two superyachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich were spotted on the Turkish coast on Tuesday, 'Eclipse' and 'My Solaris'. Mr Abramovich is among several wealthy Russians added to an EU blacklist as governments act to seize their yachts and other luxury assets. AP

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Several luxury yachts owned by wealthy Russians have been detained across Europe this month.

It comes after the West imposed sanctions on oligarchs over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine .

Some have taken evasive action – two such superyachts linked to billionaire Roman Abramovich were spotted approaching the Turkish coast on Tuesday. A group of Ukrainians tried to stop one of the yachts from docking in Turkey.

Chelsea FC owner Mr Abramovich is one of several oligarchs who were added to an EU blacklist last week as governments acted to seize yachts and other luxury assets owned by the billionaires.

Western sanctions resulted in many large vessels relocating from Europe in the past few weeks. Several have headed to places such as the Maldives, which have no extradition treaty with the US.

Where is the Abramovich-owned yacht heading?

Mr Abramovich's yacht Eclipse was seen heading towards Marmaris on Tuesday, according to data compiled by monitoring site Marine Traffic, which was seen by Reuters.

The previous day, his superyacht Solaris was moored in Bodrum, about 80 kilometres from Marmaris, data showed, after skirting waters of EU countries.

There was no suggestion Mr Abramovich was on board either of the yachts.

Ukrainians attempt to stop Abramovich's yacht docking in Turkey

Which yachts have been detained?

On Monday, a superyacht linked to another Russian billionaire was detained by authorities after docking in Gibraltar.

The Axioma , believed to belong to Dmitrievich Pumpyansky, moored at Gibraltar on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, Reuters TV footage showed.

Mr Pumpyansky, who is under UK and EU sanctions, owns Russia's largest steel pipe maker TMK. Data shows the 72-metre vessel is owned by a British Virgin Islands holding company called Pyrene investments, Reuters reported. An article published as part of the Panama Papers leaks names Mr Pumpyansky as a beneficiary of the holding.

On March 12, the world's biggest sailing yacht, called Sailing Yacht A and owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko , was seized by Italian police.

Several other luxury yachts have also been detained across Europe, including in Gibraltar, Mallorca in Spain's Balearic Islands and the French coast.

Here are 16 superyachts linked to wealthy Russians

1. Eclipse , a superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich , was this week spotted heading in the direction of Marmaris in Turkey.

2. Solaris , belonging to Mr Abramovich , moored in Bodrum at the start of the week.

3. The Axioma superyacht, belonging to Russian oligarch Dmitrievich Pumpyansky , who is on the EU's list of sanctioned Russians, was detained by authorities after docking in Gibraltar on Monday.

4. The Crescent , which was seized by the Spanish government in Tarragona, Spain, on March 17. The ship's owner is not publicly known, although it is believed to belong to Russian Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft Oil in Moscow.

5. Ragnar , owned by former KGB officer and Russian oligarch Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who is not on the EU sanctions list.

6. Tango , owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who was sanctioned by the US on March 11.

7. Lady Anastasia , owned by Russian arms manufacturer Alexander Mijeev, is retained at Port Adriano, Mallorca, as a result of sanctions against Russia and Belarus issued by the European Union.

8. Valerie was seized by the Spanish government in Barcelona, Spain, on March 15. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the ship is linked to Rostec State Corporation’s chief executive Sergey Chemezov.

9. The $578 million Sailing Yacht A owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko was seized by Italian police in the port of Trieste on March 12.

10. The 156-metre Dilbar superyacht is owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.

11. La Datcha belongs to Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Tinkov.

12. Lady M , owned by Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, was seized by Italian police on March 5.

13. Amore Vero was seized in the Mediterranean resort of La Ciotat on March 3 by French authorities. The yacht is linked to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs the Russian oil giant Rosneft.

14. Quantum Blue , owned by a company linked to Russian billionaire Sergei Galitsky, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft, was seized in southern France on March 3.

15. Superyacht Luna is owned by Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov.

16. Triple Seven is owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Abramov, according to media reports. The yacht was last up for sale in 2020 for €38 million ($41.85 million).

Here are the superyachts seized from Russian oligarchs

As part of an international pressure campaign on Russia, authorities from around the world have seized more than a half-dozen superyachts belonging to billionaire oligarchs allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The yacht seizures since the Feb. 24 invasion are "just the beginning," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in March, as an international task force worked to identify further assets that can be seized or frozen.

“The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said of the ongoing efforts in May.

Here are the superyachts government officials have seized since Russia invaded Ukraine last month.

The Justice Department announced May 5 that the Fijian government had seized billionaire oligarch Suleiman Kerimov 's 348-foot yacht Amadea. The vessel, which is valued at more than $300 million , arrived in Fiji last month. Kerimov, who's worth an estimated $14 billion and has ties to the Russian government, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department over alleged money laundering in 2018.

Special features on the sprawling yacht include a helipad, infinity pool, a jacuzzi and multiple bars, according to a report in Boat International . It can accommodate 16 overnight guests in addition to 36 crew members, the report said.

In April, Spanish law-enforcement officials seized a 255-foot yacht called the Tango, which Justice Department says is owned by oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Vekselberg is an aluminum magnate who the Treasury Department says has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Tango is worth an estimated $90 million, prosecutors said , and Vekselberg allegedly purchased it through shell companies. The 11-year-old yacht has seven staterooms and reportedly includes amenities such as a pool, gym and beauty salon .

Authorities in Italy seized a 215-foot superyacht called the Lady M this month. It's owned by Alexei Mordashov, Russia's richest businessman, and it’s estimated to be worth $27 million . The vessel, which requires a crew of 14, has six guest cabins , a pool and a gym.

But it pales in comparison to another of Mordashov's yachts, the $500 million Nord . The 464-foot vessel, which has two helipads and a waterfall and can accommodate 36 guests, was anchored this month in the Seychelles, where the U.S. and European Union sanctions don’t apply.

Italian officials also seized the 132-foot superyacht Lena, owned by the energy magnate Gennady Timchenko. Estimated to be worth $8 million, it has five cabins and can accommodate 10 guests.

SY A — short for Sailing Yacht A — is one of the world's largest superyachts. Valued at over $440 million, the 469-foot vessel, owned by the fertilizer magnate Andrey Melnichenko, has eight decks, multiple elevators, an underwater observation area and the world's tallest masts . It was seized in the Italian port of Trieste.

Authorities in Spain seized Sergei Chemezov's Valerie, a 279-foot superyacht that had been moored in Barcelona. Chemezov , a former KGB officer, heads the state conglomerate Rostec. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez touted the seizure on La Sexta television. “We are talking about a yacht that we estimate is worth $140 million,” Sanchez said.

Officials in France announced this month that they had seized the 289-foot Amore Vero, which was undergoing repairs in a shipyard near Marseille. When they arrived, authorities said, they found the crew preparing for an urgent departure, even though the repair work was scheduled to last through April. The $120 million boat, which has seven cabins , is linked to Igor Sechin, described by the U.S. Treasury Department as a close ally of Putin's.

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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The U.S. seized Russian oligarchs' superyachts. Now, American taxpayers pay the price

Ayesha Rascoe

Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Stephanie Baker, senior writer at Bloomberg News, about the complications involved in seizing and maintaining superyachts owned by sanctioned Russian billionaires.

Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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Watch CBS News

Superyacht seized by U.S. from Russian billionaire arrives in San Diego Bay

June 27, 2022 / 3:40 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A $325 million superyacht seized by the United States from a sanctioned Russian oligarch arrived in San Diego Bay on Monday.

The 348-foot-long (106-meter-long) Amadea flew an American flag as it sailed past the retired aircraft carrier USS Midway and under the Coronado Bridge.

"After a transpacific journey of over 5,000 miles (8,047 kilometers), the Amadea has safely docked in a port within the United States, and will remain in the custody of the U.S. government, pending its anticipated forfeiture and sale," the Department of Justice said in a statement.

The FBI linked the Amadea to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, and the vessel became a target of Task Force KleptoCapture, launched in March to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs to put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine. The U.S. said Kerimov secretly bought the vessel last year through various shell companies.

But Justice Department  officials had been stymied  by a legal effort to contest the American seizure warrant and by a yacht crew that refused to sail for the U.S. American officials won a legal battle in Fiji to take the Cayman Islands-flagged superyacht earlier this month. 

The Amadea made a stop in Honolulu Harbor en route to the U.S. mainland. The Amadea boasts  luxury features  such as a helipad, mosaic-tiled pool, lobster tank and a pizza oven, nestled in a décor of "delicate marble and stones" and "precious woods and delicate silk fabrics," according to court documents.

"The successful seizure and transport of Amadea would not have been possible without extraordinary cooperation from our foreign partners in the global effort to enforce U.S. sanctions imposed in response to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine," the Justice Department said.

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From yachts to lavish estates, tracking Russian assets seized so far

By Tal Yellin , CNN

Published April 13, 2022

Updated April 27, 2022

Countries are on the hunt for sanctioned Russian assets after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Thousands of Russians have since been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, among others. Superyachts and multimillion-dollar properties have already been seized or frozen by authorities in Italy, France, Spain, the UK and Gibraltar. The United States has also launched KleptoCapture, a task force focused on those who violate sanctions and the seizing of their assets.

This interactive will continue to track known developments and help show where sanctioned Russians park their money outside of Russia. Except for Igor Sechin and Sergei Chemezov, no other oligarchs or related persons mentioned in this story responded to requests for comment from CNN.

Real estate

Other assets

April 14, 2022

“dilbar”  linked to    alisher usmanov   valued at $600-$750 million in hamburg, germany.

Germany has impounded the “Dilbar,” a superyacht connected to a Russian oligarch in Hamburg, the country’s embassy in the US tweeted . The yacht belongs to the sister of Alisher Usmanov and is worth between $600 to $750 million, according to the German Federal Criminal Police Office. Usmanov is one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires with vast domestic and international holdings. The US government sanctioned him in early March in a campaign targeting Putin’s allies, stating Usmanov is alleged to have “financial ties” to Putin. In March, Italy’s financial police seized his real estate and assets worth about $90 million. Usmanov has also been sanctioned by the European Union.

April 12, 2022

Assets  linked to    roman abramovich   valued at over $7 billion in jersey.

Authorities in the Channel island of Jersey froze more than $7 billion worth of assets “suspected to be connected to” Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, according to a government statement . The frozen assets are either located in Jersey or owned by Jersey incorporated entities, the statement said. The States of Jersey Police also executed search warrants on premises “connected to the business activities” of Abramovich. Abramovich made his fortune in steel and investments and was sanctioned by the UK in March, citing his decades-long relationship with Vladimir Putin. In a statement at the time , the UK government noted that “he is one of the few oligarchs from the 1990s to maintain prominence under Putin.” These frozen assets represent around half his net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index .

April 11, 2022

Properties  linked to    nikita mazepin   valued at $114.3 million in sardinia, italy.

A real estate compound, “Rocky Ram,” linked to Nikita Mazepin and his oligarch father Dmitry was seized in Sardinia, the Italian financial police confirmed in a statement. The police said the properties are worth 105 million euros (about $114.3 million). Nikita, a former Formula 1 Haas team driver, and his father were included on a list of individuals sanctioned by the EU in early March. The sanction list described Mazepin Sr. as “a member of the closest circle of Vladimir Putin” saying he and 36 other ”businesspeople” met with Putin and other government officials to discuss how sanctions would affect Russia. In early March, Mazepin Sr. sold his controlling stake in Uralchem Group, one of the largest producers of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers in Russia, and resigned as CEO from Uralchem JSC, a subsidiary, according to a company statement .

April 7, 2022

Assets  linked to    sanctioned russians   valued at $7.83 billion in switzerland.

Switzerland has so far frozen 7.5 billion Swiss francs (about $7.83 billion) of sanctioned Russian assets, according to a State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) spokesperson. The number of frozen assets increased from March 24, when 5.75 billion Swiss francs (about $6.18 billion) were initially frozen. Frozen assets include 11 properties throughout Switzerland. No identifiable information was revealed and no specific assets were mentioned in the initial statement. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Switzerland broke from traditional neutrality and adopted EU sanctions.

April 5, 2022

Assets  linked to    sanctioned russians   valued at $3 billion in belgium.

Belgian authorities have frozen $3 billion in Russian assets and blocked $215 billion in transactions since the start of economic sanctions, according to Belgian Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem. The frozen assets belong to 877 individuals and 62 entities on the European sanctions list, according to the statement from the Belgian Finance Ministry. The blocked transactions are the result of other restrictions imposed by the European Union on Russia.

April 4, 2022

“tango”  linked to    viktor vekselberg   valued at $90 million in mallorca, spain.

Spanish authorities seized a superyacht named “Tango,” which they say is owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in Mallorca, according to a statement from the Spanish Civil Guard. The detained yacht was part of an operation with US federal agents and was carried out under a Spanish court order, the statement said. Vekselberg runs the Russian investment company Renova Group. He is worth approximately $16.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He was sanctioned by the United States and is “under investigation for tax fraud, money laundering and document forgery trying to hide the ownership of this superyacht to avoid sanctions” and is “very close to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” the Spanish Civil Guard said. Vekselberg’s case marks the first seizure for the newly formed US task force, KleptoCapture. The yacht is 78 meters long (about 256 feet) and is valued at nearly $90 million, per the US Department of Justice.

March 29, 2022

“phi”  linked to    a russian businessman   valued at $50 million in london, england.

The United Kingdom detained the “Phi” yacht belonging to an unnamed-Russian businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime, according to the UK Department for Transport. The Dutch-built vessel is docked in East London’s Canary Wharf for the superyacht awards, and was planning to depart March 29. The Department of Transport claims that the ownership of the boat was “deliberately well hidden.” It sails under the Maltese flag and is registered to a company based in the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis. The 192-foot yacht is worth approximately £38 million (about $50 million).

March 23, 2022

Assets  linked to    sanctioned russians   valued at $800 million in france.

French authorities have frozen assets linked to sanctioned Russian oligarchs valued at $800 million, according to French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal. The European Union’s latest round of sanctions in early March against Russia included measures targeting 160 oligarchs and Russian politicians. “There will be no taboo if we need to go further,” Attal said about any additional sanctions.

March 22, 2022

Assets  linked to    sanctioned russians   valued at $431 million in the netherlands.

The Netherlands has frozen nearly 392 million euros (about $431 million) in Russian assets, the Dutch Ministry of Finance told parliament in a letter seen by CNN. The ministry said that further asset freezes were expected. The European Union’s latest round of sanctions in early March against Russia included measures targeting 160 oligarchs and Russian politicians.

March 21, 2022

“axioma”  linked to    dmitry pumpyansky   valued at $75 million in gibraltar.

Authorities in Gibraltar have detained the “Axioma” yacht linked to Russian billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky, according to UK and Gibraltar government statements. Pumpyansky was sanctioned by the EU and UK and was the beneficiary of TMK PAO, Russia’s largest oil and gas steel pipe maker. He also resigned from the TMK PAO’s board of directors, the company announced . The 240-foot yacht is worth approximately $75 million, according to SuperYachtFan . Gibraltar’s ports had been closed to sanctioned individuals, but the Captain of the Port made an exception after JPMorgan Chase was granted a court order authorizing the seizure. “JPMorgan is acting pursuant to its mortgage rights,” the Gibraltar government said in a statement to CNN. JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, said in a statement in early March it was getting out of Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, citing “compliance with directives by governments around the world.”

March 18, 2022

Real estate  linked to    alexey mordaschov   valued at $116 million in sardinia, italy.

The Italian financial police seized a real estate complex belonging to Russian billionaire Alexey Mordaschov in Sardinia, according to Italy’s Prime Minister’s office. Mordaschov is the chairman of Russian mining and steel company Severstal and is one of Russia’s richest men, worth $18.5 billion, according to Forbes . The frozen real estate is worth around 105 million euros (about $116 million), per Ferdinando Giugliano, the media advisor to the Italian Prime Minister. On March 4, Mordaschov’s yacht, named “Lady M” was also seized in Italy. The 213-foot yacht is worth approximately 65 million euros (about $71 million).

March 16, 2022

“crescent”  linked to    an unknown owner   valued at $600 million in tarragona, spain.

Spanish authorities have detained a superyacht, named “Crescent” in the port of Tarragona, according to a statement from Spain’s Ministry for Transport. The 135-meter yacht flies a Cayman Islands flag and has been “provisionally detained” to establish whether it is the possession of a person or entity included in the European Council’s package of sanctions, the statement said. The yacht cost approximately $600 million, according to SuperYachtFan.

Real estate  linked to    Petr Aven   valued at $4.4 million in Sardinia, Italy

The Italian financial police froze a real estate complex belonging partially to Russian oligarch Petr Aven in Sardinia, according to a statement issued by Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s press office. The share of real estate is worth approximately 4 million euros (about $4.4 million), according to the Italian Prime Minister’s office. The billionaire stepped down earlier this month as Director of Russian private bank Alfa Bank and from the board of the investment firm he co-founded, LetterOne, after being sanctioned by the EU and UK . The European Union named Aven as “one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs,” who “regularly meet” with the Russian President in the Kremlin, and “does not operate independently of the President’s demands.”

Real estate and vehicles  linked to    Alisher Usmanov   valued at $72 million in Italy

Real estate assets and six corporate vehicles belonging to Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov were seized by the Italian financial police. The seized assets are worth approximately 66 million euros (about $72 million). Usmanov is one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires with vast domestic and international holdings. The US government sanctioned him in early March in a campaign targeting Putin’s allies, stating he is alleged to have financial ties to Putin. Italy’s financial police had previously seized his real estate in the Golfo del Pevero area in Arzachena on March 4. Those assets are worth approximately 17 million euros (about $18 million).

March 15, 2022

“lady anastasia”  linked to    alexander mikheev   valued at $7 million in palma de mallorca, spain.

Spanish authorities have detained a yacht linked to Russian oligarch Alexander Mikheev, named “Lady Anastasia,” in the port of Palma de Mallorca, according to the Spanish Ministry of Transport. Mikheev is the CEO of Rosoboronexport, the only state organization in Russia that exports weapons and was sanctioned by the EU and the US. The yacht is nearly 48 meters (157 feet) long and was in the news in late February, when a crew member tried to sink the vessel in retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The yacht is worth approximately $7 million, according to a listing on BOAT International.

“Valerie”  linked to    Sergei Chemezov   valued at $140 million in Barcelona, Spain

Spanish authorities seized the “Valerie” yacht reportedly linked to Russian oligarch and former KGB agent Sergei Chemezov in the port of Barcelona, according to Reuters . Chemezov is the chairman of the Rostec conglomerate and a member of the Supreme Council of ‘United Russia’, per EU sanctions . When the US sanctioned Chemezov in 2014 — as part of an effort targeting Putin’s inner circle — the government said he had known Putin since the 1980s and the two lived in the same apartment complex in East Germany. The yacht is worth approximately $140 million and will remain “provisionally immobilized” until authorities can determine its ownership. A spokesman for Chemezov denied that he is tied to the yacht.

March 11, 2022

“sailing yacht a”  linked to    andrey melnichenko   valued at $577 million in trieste, italy.

The Italian financial police seized “Sailing Yacht A” — which could be linked to Russian fertilizer and coal billionaire Andrey Melnichenko — in the port of Trieste, according to Ferdinando Giugliano, the media advisor to the Italian Prime Minister. Melnichenko was sanctioned by the EU on March 9 and has since removed himself from the boards of two companies he founded, Eurochem and SUEK, according to his spokesman Alex Andreev in a statement to CNN. At 469 feet long, the vessel is also the world’s tallest sailing yacht — taller than the Statue of Liberty — and is worth approximately 530 million euros (about $577 million).

March 4, 2022

“villa lazzareschi”  linked to    oleg savchenko   valued at $3.3 million in lucca, italy.

A 17th century villa allegedly owned by Oleg Savchenko, named “Villa Lazzareschi,” was seized by Italian financial police in the province of Lucca, according to a police statement . Savchenko is a member of the State Duma and was sanctioned by the EU. The seized Italian villa is worth approximately 3 million euros (about $3.3 million).

Real estate  linked to    Vladimir Soloviev   valued at $8.7 million in Como, Italy

Real estate properties belonging to Vladimir Soloviev were seized by the Italian financial police in the province of Como, according to a police statement . Soloviev is a Russian pro-Kremlin propagandist and TV/radio journalist, according to EU Council sanctions . The frozen Italian real estate is worth approximately 8 million euros (about $8.7 million).

Real estate  linked to    Alisher Usmanov   valued at $18 million in Arzachena, Italy

A real estate compendium belonging to Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov was seized by the Italian financial police in the Golfo del Pevero area in Arzachena, according to a statement . The frozen Italian real estate is worth approximately 17 million euros (about $18 million).

Usmanov is one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires with vast domestic and international holdings, according to the US Treasury. The US government sanctioned him in early March in a campaign targeting Putin’s allies, stating he is alleged to have financial ties to Putin. The US said it sanctioned his private jet and his 512-foot superyacht named “Dilbar.”

“Lena”  linked to    Gennady Timchenko   valued at $55 million in San Remo, Italy

The Italian financial police seized Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko’s yacht, named “Lena,” in the port of San Remo, according to a police statement . Timchenko is the owner of private investment group, Volga Group. He was sanctioned by the EU in February. When the US government sanctioned Timchenko in 2014, an effort targeting Putin’s inner circle, they stated his “activities in the energy sector have been directly linked to Putin.” The 126-foot yacht is worth approximately 50 million euros (about $55 million).

“Lady M”  linked to    Alexey Mordaschov   valued at $71 million in Imperia, Italy

The Italian financial police seized Russian billionaire Alexey Mordaschov’s yacht, named “Lady M,” in the northern port of Imperia, according to a police statement . Mordaschov is the chairman of Russian mining and steel company Severstal and is one of Russia’s richest men, worth $18.5 billion, according to Forbes . The 213-foot yacht is worth approximately 65 million euros (about $71 million).

March 3, 2022

“amore vero”  linked to    igor sechin   valued at $120 million in la ciotat, france.

French authorities seized a yacht linked to Igor Sechin in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat, according to the French Finance Ministry . Sechin is the CEO of Rosneft, the Russian state oil company and one of the world’s largest crude oil producers. The yacht, named “Amore Vero” — or “True Love” in Italian — was scheduled to leave the port on April 1 after arriving in January. Sechin was deputy prime minister of Russia from 2008 until 2012. The European Union said his connections to Putin are “long and deep,” with the two men maintaining daily contact. The yacht is worth about $120 million, according to SuperYachtFan. A Sechin spokesman denied that he is tied to the yacht.

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Who's Paying for Russian Oligarch's Seized Yacht in San Diego Bay?

The amadea, which superyachttimes.com called the 63rd largest yacht in the world, tied up monday at naval base san diego, in national city, by eric s. page and mari payton • published june 28, 2022 • updated on june 28, 2022 at 2:11 pm.

Many San Diegans who saw the news about the Amadea — the $325 million seized Russian oligarch's yacht that docked in San Diego on Monday — may be wondering: Who's paying for that?

Imagine how much the fuel costs to sail it more than 5,000 miles from Fiji, where it was seized earlier this month, to San Diego? A local marine fuel dock quoted the following prices, if you're wondering: $7.40 for gas, $7.35 for diesel. According to SuperYachtTimes.com, the Amadea has a 392,000-liter fuel tank. That works out to about 103,555 gallons, so it could cost $766,307 or so just to fill up.

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And then there are maintence costs on a 350-foot long yacht, which, you can be sure, are extensive and necessary — in fact, not undertaking such efforts can cause the vessel's value to decline if it deteriotes due to neglect.

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The Amadea carries a full complement of 36 crew, including the captain, according to SuperYachtTimes, but it won't need nearly that many once she tied up at Naval Base San Diego in National City. Nevertheless, someone will be monitoring the yacht and conducting the maintenance.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the yacht was bought with what it calls "dirty money," and, as such, some may be relieved to hear, will be sold to the highest bidder. Presumably, the associated post-seizure costs accrued after its seizure will be coming off the top of the sale price. Until then, the Amadea, which SuperYachtTimes called the 63rd larges yacht in the world, will resume in the custody of the U.S.

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Officials with the DOJ said the Amadea, which was seized in connection to the department's KleptoCapture campaign undertaken in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, was owned by Suleiman Kerimov a Russian billionaire.

After the yacht arrived in San Diego, John Kirby, a former federal prosecutor, told NBC 7 that he thinks the U.S. government hopes moves like the Amadea's seizure are efforts to apply pressure to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this month, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said, regarding the Amadea, “The department had its eyes on every yacht purchased with dirty money. This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide — not even in the remotest part of the world. We will use every means of enforcing the sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine.”

The court ruling represented a significant victory for the U.S. as it encounters obstacles in its attempts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs around the world. While those efforts are welcomed by many who oppose the war in Ukraine, some actions have tested the limits of American jurisdiction abroad.

The United States wasted no time in taking command of the after a Fiji court ruled in its favor and sailed the ship away from the South Pacific nation just hours after the ruling.

"If you could say or somehow prove that this boat … that the oligarch had the money for this boat because he bribed Vladimir Putin, that is public corruption," Kirby said. "It’s a crime even when it takes place outside the United States. The United States can still act upon it."

According the website, the Amadea is not currently for sale, but that may soon change. Until then, you can "shop" for other eye-popping, wallet-busting boats here .

The Associated Press contributed to this report — Ed.

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A seized superyacht shows up in Everett — minus one Russian oligarch owner

EVERETT — It’s not clear whether Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov had plans to visit Puget Sound this spring — the French Riviera is more the style of the U.S.-sanctioned mining and energy multibillionaire.

But Monday morning, the Amadea, a 348-foot, $300 million-plus superyacht said to be owned by Kerimov, arrived in the Port of Everett to have some work done at a local shipyard. 

A sleek, white shark of a ship with a knifelike bow, raked profile and quarters for 16 guests and 36 crew, Amadea swanned past Everett’s industrial waterfront with a tug escort and all the made-for-TV glamour of an international celebrity fugitive. Kerimov, of course, was not on board.

In 2022, Amadea (“God’s love” in Latin) was seized in Fiji at the request of U.S. authorities who claim Kerimov has enabled Russian aggression in Ukraine and Syria. Money laundering and conspiracy were also alleged.

At the time, the seizure was hailed as a warning to “every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide — not even in the remotest part of the world,” as a deputy U.S. attorney general put it in a press statement . 

But as any boat owner in this boat-focused community will tell you , seizing a superyacht is one thing. Maintaining its value as an asset is another — especially when the asset is the size of a ferry and equipped with a theater, a gym, beauty salon, teak decks, 30-foot-long pool, helipad and twin 5,766-horsepower diesels. 

“They’re saying it’s costing us $7 million a year to keep it up,” said Chris Petersen, a retired fisherman who runs a metal coatings shop on West Marine View Drive, a few blocks from the port and who, like many here, has been following the superyacht saga since Monday.

Indeed, fuel, maintenance, insurance and salary for the crew of Amadea during its impoundment in San Diego ran around $740,000 a month, according to federal court filings by the Marshals Service. 

In February, the Justice Department told a federal court it intended to halt this “excessive … drain on the public” purse by auctioning off Amadea, which the government claims Kerimov acquired in 2021.

But selling off this excessive drain has been complicated. 

There is litigation challenging Amadea’s seizure because the vessel allegedly wasn’t owned by Kerimov, but by another Russian oligarch, who is not sanctioned, according to court papers. 

Another complication, more relevant to Everett: Amadea’s insurance policy, according to court filings, requires service that can only be done by hauling the vessel out of the water — a job that appears to be slated for the dry dock facilities at Everett Ship Repair, on the port’s East Waterway. 

Few details of the project have been shared. Port officials have referred all questions to Everett Ship Repair, whose vice president of service sales, Lane Richards, politely declined to comment.

But a Justice Department spokesperson confirmed Thursday that Amadea was indeed “in Washington for standard dry dock maintenance.”

And on Wednesday, the vessel in question could be seen berthed, like a slightly lost Imperial Starship, on the south side of Pier 3, adjacent to Everett Ship Repair’s dry dock and the Washington State Ferry Salish. 

All the no-commenting has only added to the atmosphere of maritime intrigue and speculation in a town ordinarily unperturbed by big, secrecy-shrouded ships, including those at the nearby Everett Naval Station. 

Many here wonder why the U.S. government spent the money to bring Amadea all the way to Everett, when there are dry dock facilities in San Diego, San Francisco and Portland; even Seattle is 5 nautical miles closer to San Diego. 

Amadea’s fuel burn “is probably in the 8-to-10 gallons per mile range,” said Dennis Butterfield, a retired car dealership manager and former boat owner, as he kept an eye on the Russian superyacht Wednesday from a viewpoint on Warren Avenue. “That’s the United States government at work, if you ask me.”

Butterfield’s estimate was close: based on vessel specifications featured on the yachting website, YachCharterFleet , the 4,400-ton Amadea burns roughly 11 gallons per mile at a cruising speed of 15 mph.

The Justice Department declined to justify Amadea’s four-day journey from San Diego to Everett.

Such secrecy would likely suit Kerimov, who Forbes once described as “one of the most private Russian billionaires,” and who is also said to have close ties to the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 58-year-old serves in the Russian Federation Senate, is reportedly worth nearly $11 billion and has owned villas on the French Riviera and elsewhere.

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He may also have owned a rare Fabergé egg, according to accounts of the search of the Amadea after its seizure .

Beginning in 2017, Kerimov was listed by U.S. officials as one of a number of Russian oligarchs “who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe .”

In March 2022, after the FBI reportedly linked Kerimov to the Amadea , the vessel was seized under a program known as Task Force KleptoCapture and eventually sailed to San Diego under an American flag.

But Amadea’s more recent trip likely had less to do with the vessel’s checkered lineage than with a shortage of West Coast dry dock capacity, especially for large vessels. 

Unlike the East Coast and the Gulf Coast, ship repair infrastructure on the West Coast is “is woefully undersized,” said Craig Hooper, a former naval ship building industry executive who writes and advises on security and defense issues.

In recent decades, several private shipyards with dry dock facilities have closed and building new capacity faces high costs and regulatory hurdles, Hooper said. As a result, “long transits to an open facility are relatively commonplace these days,” he added. 

In the case of the Amadea, Hooper hypothesized, “the responsible party may have put the job out for bid and an Everett yard was the available, lowest-cost option.”

According to court filings, Amadea’s dry dock work is expected to cost $5.6 million and take two months. 

By that time, federal officials may have sorted Amadea’s other complications. 

Last fall, attorneys for Eduard Khudainatov, the former head of state-owned oil company Rosneft, claimed Amadea isn’t owned by Kerimov, but by Khudainatov. Attorneys argue that since Khudainatov wasn’t under sanctions, the yacht was “not forfeitable, as it neither constitutes nor is derived from any unlawful activity.”

But federal prosecutors contend “that Khudainatov is just a straw owner put forward to disguise Kerimov’s ownership of the vessel,” according to an April 19 filing in a federal court in New York, where the case is ongoing.

In the meantime, Everett will take some pleasure in the Amadea’s august presence. 

Port of Everett officials, though tight-lipped about the vessel’s particulars, were clearly pleased by the message it sends of the port’s growing status as a maritime hub.

“Anything that puts Everett on the international map is a good thing!” said Kate Anderson, port spokesperson, in an email response to an inquiry about the Amadea.

Locals, too, appeared to be enjoying the celebrity by association.

“That magnitude of wealth — it’s just another world,” said Petersen, the retired fisherman.

Others wondered who would be foolish enough to buy a vessel whose ownership was being contested by Russian oligarchs.

But mostly, folks here appeared to sympathize with Uncle Sam’s desire to be rid of the costly, controversial craft. 

That was the sentiment of John Mostrom, who had taken a break from mowing his lawn Wednesday to peer down at the Amadea from the Warren Avenue overlook. 

“They say the two happiest days of a boat owner’s life,” Mostrom noted, “are when they buy the boat and when they sell it.”

The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.

An Inside Look at Jeff Bezos’ $500 Million Superyacht and What It Costs To Keep It Afloat

C liché but true, the second-richest man on the planet, according to Forbes , owns the tallest sailing yacht in the world . In fact, the 417-foot Koru is so big, it has its own 250-foot support vessel .

Priced at $500 million, the Koru hit the sea for the first time in 2023 and has since ferried Jeff Bezos and company around the globe. Complete with three massive 229-foot masts, it can reach a top speed under sail of 20 knots, according to the New York Post — which is approximately 23 miles per hour.

Made for a group, up to 18 guests can set sail on the yacht, allowing Bezos to bring family and friends on vacation with him. Here’s a look at the Koru’s extravagant features and how much it costs to operate his floating mansion.

Also take a look at Bezos’ mansion collection.

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Key Features

As expected Bezos’ yacht is dripping with luxury. With a net worth of $203.8 billion — as of May 4, 2024, according to Forbes — he can afford to outfit the Koru with nothing but the best and he did just that.

The superyacht has three outdoor decks, with two containing swimming pools, according to the New York Post. It also features a cinema, several lounges and multiple business areas, according to Luxuo .

Highly personalized, the yacht is complete with a figurehead modeled after Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez. Even its masts are luxurious, as the Amazon founder chose in-boom furlers, which keep the canvases at the bottom of the mast above the deck, creating a pristine and spacious rope-free deck.

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Support Vessel

One of the most shocking features of the Koru is the fact that it requires its own support vessel. The $75 million Abeona features a helipad that Sanchez has been spotted using to park her personal helicopter, according to the New York Post.

Designed to carry extra gear, four jet skis, two fast launches and a dinghy were spotted on the Abeona during a 2023 trip to Mallorca, Spain, according to the New York Post. It’s also capable of lifting a small submarine, but Bezos isn’t believed to own one — at least not yet.

Additionally, the support ship has two extra staterooms, which can accommodate four guests. This could come in handy if Bezos wants to entertain a larger group than can fit on the Koru.

On-Board Crew

It probably isn’t a surprise that operating both the Koru and the Abeona is no small task. From staff to drive the boats and maintain them to caring for guests onboard, Bezos needs a small army at sea.

The Koru has a crew of up to 36 people, according to The New York Post. If you think that’s a lot, the Abeona requires up to 45 crew and support staff.

Annual Operating Costs

Purchasing the Koru and Abeona cost Bezos more than half a billion dollars, but his expenses didn’t end there. As you might imagine, the annual cost to maintain a superyacht and its own enormous supporting yacht is more than most people earn in a lifetime.

The Koru costs approximately $25 million in operating expenses per year, according to the Daily Mail . Much less, but still sky-high, Bezos spends around $5 to $10 million on annual maintenance costs for the Abeona, according to Super Yacht Fan ).

When their owners are on dry land, yachts have to find a parking space. However, even this doesn’t always come cheap for Bezos and the Koru.

In November 2023, the billionaire’s yacht arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but was too big to fit in the port with all the outer superyachts, according to the Daily Mail. Therefore, it had to be docked with cruise ships at Port Everglades, at a rate of $16,500 per week.

While one week of storage might be more than the average person can afford, picking up the tab for any number of weeks would clearly be no issue for Bezos. While his superyacht and the many expenses surrounding it are clearly astronomical, he’s still living well within his budget.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : An Inside Look at Jeff Bezos’ $500 Million Superyacht and What It Costs To Keep It Afloat

Ukraine war: Yellen sees 'possibility' of $50bn loan from frozen Russian assets

In an interview with Sky News, the US Treasury secretary speaks of her hopes for a new funding solution for Ukraine's war effort and admits there is a possibility of Chinese retaliation after big hikes to US tariffs on electric cars and solar panels.

Business reporter @SkyNewsBiz

Tuesday 21 May 2024 17:36, UK

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There is a "possibility" that G7 nations will support Ukraine's war effort through the use of billions of dollars in loans linked to frozen Russian assets, the US Treasury secretary has told Sky News.

In a wide-ranging interview with Sky's Wilfred Frost, Janet Yellen said she was hopeful of a "united front" on the issue ahead of a key meeting of finance ministers in Italy, arguing that Ukraine had "substantial needs".

Ukraine war latest: Putin sacks minister in new sign of shift in strategy

She also admitted there was a possibility that China could respond to the imposition of US sanctions on its sprawling green economy last week, hitting out at "massive Chinese overcapacity" in markets for things like solar panels and electric cars.

Ms Yellen said she would not weigh in on the looming UK general election, but added, generally, that she "always loved" seeing women achieve high offices in politics and economics.

It was a reference to the possibility that Labour's Rachel Reeves could become the UK's first female Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Ms Yellen, a veteran economist who served as chair of the US central bank from 2014 to 2018, was speaking in Frankfurt before the G7 talks.

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They are expected to be dominated by sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine.

She is pushing for agreement on a plan to use the interest gained on $300bn (£236bn) of seized Russian state assets to help fund Ukraine's war effort.

Seized Russian assets could fund Ukraine war effort

The sum could total up to $50bn but be available in the form of loans only.

Ms Yellen had originally pushed for full confiscation of the Russian funds - mostly denominated in euros.

However, that proposal was met with opposition from EU officials on the grounds such action could have posed a systemic risk to the single European currency.

She said of the prospects for agreement: "I think that's a possibility. I believe it's important for the G7 to work together to show a united front and to show that we can generate meaningful resources to support Ukraine over the next several years.

"And while America stands behind Ukraine and I expect Congress, if necessary, will pass future packages, Ukraine has substantial needs and being able to marshal significant resources to help Ukraine is important.

"That's one way to do it. I understand that today the European Union took the final step in approving a plan by which windfall profits that are being earned on Russian assets in Euroclear, that they will be dedicated for Ukraine's use.

"And the plan that you mentioned would essentially bring forward that flow of interest proceeds from the assets that do not belong to Russia.

"The Russian assets are not earning interest anymore, but they are generating returns for Euroclear. That alone could be given to Ukraine that would be repaid over several years by that flow of interest."

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

'Common concerns' over China

Turning to Israel's war with Hamas , Ms Yellen said there had been no discussions within her department over the prospects for sanctions against the Israeli government over its handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

She also said there were "common concerns" within Europe over the economic difficulties posed by China.

They focus squarely on high volumes of Chinese-made goods in areas of the green economy, such as electric cars and solar panels, flooding Western markets at uncompetitive prices.

The US has argued it is only achievable due to state aid.

While Ms Yellen saw the possibility of tit-for-tat tariffs by China, she added: "We've had frank and candid discussions and we have established working groups on the economy and financial issues and markets that have really deepened our relationship.

"And we're working together on things like debt and climate issues and issues relating to financial stability that are important.

"But we do believe... that while we have issues with respect to economic matters, we have a broad and deep trade and investment relationship that we think is valuable, is positive for the United States, is positive for China, and we very much want to preserve.

"So we do think that the playing field should be level. And I've been frank that there are areas where we feel we're over-dependent on China for critical supplies, and it is our intention to develop a more resilient supply chain."

Local News | Judge sides with Fort Lauderdale man who…

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Local News | Judge sides with Fort Lauderdale man who complained neighbor’s yacht was too big for lot

Michael Meldeau did. It wound up getting him sued by one Steven Howell, owner of the yacht.

The two men live on Delmar Place in Fort Lauderdale’s upscale Las Olas Isles , just north of Las Olas and west of the Intracoastal.

The yearslong feud isn’t your run-of-the-mill neighborhood dispute . The lawsuit, filed four years ago, touched on not only property rights but also, in the case of the defendant, the right to free speech.

Reed Tolber, Meldeau’s attorney, attempted to get the lawsuit thrown out, accusing Howell of trying to muzzle Meldeau from complaining to Fort Lauderdale code officers if he notices anything amiss on Howell’s property.

The case was heading to trial in June, but all that changed May 16 when Broward Circuit Judge Martin Bidwell signed an order granting summary judgment in favor of Meldeau, saying there was no need for a trial.

“The record evidence firmly establishes that (Howell) knowingly and routinely moored his yachts behind his home in violation of the city’s code,” Bidwell wrote in his order. “Although it must be vexing to have (a neighbor) constantly report one’s code violations to the city, these actions by (his neighbor) cannot be said to be unreasonable.”

It remains unclear whether Howell and his legal team plan to appeal.

Howell, 64, declined to comment. His attorneys, Brent Gordon and Brian Gottlieb, could not be reached for comment.

Howell’s lawsuit had accused Meldeau, 77, of embarking on a campaign of harassment and urged the court to require him to employ an attorney licensed to practice law in Florida to report any future potential code violations on Howell’s property.

To keep the peace, Howell was forced to rent out dock space and pay dockage fees, his lawsuit says. Those dockage fees, according to the lawsuit, are special damages that Howell would not have to pay if the boat were docked behind his home.

A matter of size

Meldeau bought his three-bedroom home on Delmar Place in 2000 for $825,000, according to the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office. Howell moved into the neighborhood a decade later, paying nearly $2.7 million for a four-bedroom home two houses away, appraiser records show.

The trouble began when Howell started docking his yacht on the 100-foot lot behind his waterfront home in late 2018, both parties say. The boat, named #OMG, was sometimes docked behind the homes of neighbors with their permission, according to the lawsuit.

Most waterfront homes in Fort Lauderdale have a 10-foot setback on either side for boat dockage. So a property that’s 100 feet wide like Howell’s would be prohibited from docking a boat bigger than 80 feet in length.

Meldeau and his attorney say the #OMG is just shy of 105 feet in length — 25 feet too long for Howell’s property.

A former attorney of Howell’s told a city board the yacht is 96 feet long. And Howell testified during a deposition that he’s not quite sure how long the boat is, records show.

Meldeau took exception to the yacht extending into his property line when it was docked behind the home of a different neighbor whose home sits in between his home and Howell’s, according to court records.

He called the city to report the yacht for violating the setback code in late 2018.

The city’s inspectors found the yacht to be in violation and ordered Howell to remove it, Meldeau’s attorney wrote in his motion to dismiss the case. When they returned to verify compliance, the yacht was gone and the complaint was closed.

But once the case was closed, the yacht was back at the dock, according to Meldeau’s motion to dismiss the case.

“This ‘dance’ occurred several times,” Tolber wrote.

Meldeau complained again and again. But when the city’s inspectors would show up, the yacht would be gone, Tolber wrote.

Then one day, a code inspector spotted the yacht docked behind the house in between Howell’s and Meldeau’s and found it to be in violation of the city’s setback code.

‘It’s time to stop it’

A hearing was scheduled before a magistrate, who agreed the yacht was too big for the lot.

Howell took his case to the city’s Board of Adjustment in January 2020 to request a variance that would allow him to keep the yacht behind his home.

The board denied his request, citing its failure to meet the code’s hardship requirement.

Before the board’s vote, Meldeau spoke up against the variance. He told the board that Howell “started bragging” that it was saving him $8,000 a month in dockage fees to keep his yacht docked behind his home.

“So this is not a hardship,” Meldeau told the board. “This is an economic benefit. And I say we’re not for sale. It’s time to stop it. If you can’t bring a boat in your neighborhood that doesn’t meet the code, don’t bring it in.”

In February 2020, the following month, Howell filed suit against Meldeau.

During a deposition last year, Meldeau’s attorney asked Howell to explain the timing of his lawsuit.

“I don’t know the exact dates of how all this timed out,” Howell said. “But the truth of the matter was that there were all sorts of challenges all around this at different times. We had to manage different risk levels while all this stuff was going on. And that’s why I escalated this to where we are now because I just decided I wasn’t going to live like this any longer. We did everything we could to try to mitigate this and not end up where we are right now.”

In March 2020, the magistrate fined Howell $14,000.

The fine remained unpaid as of Tuesday, May 21, city officials said. During last year’s deposition, Howell said he hadn’t paid the fine because it was “not correct” and he didn’t consider the matter resolved. The yacht was moved from his home in late 2021 and was docked at the RMK Marina, Howell testified.

Howell told Meldeau’s attorney he doesn’t remember details about the boat being moved around after Meldeau started making calls to code officers.

“I don’t recall its movement, but boats come and go,” Howell said. “That’s what they do.”

When asked to confirm that the #OMG yacht is 105 feet long, Howell said he was under the impression the boat was 105 feet when he bought it. But during last year’s deposition, he testified that he was no longer sure.

“When we bought the boat, we thought that it was 105 feet,” Howell said during the deposition. “We’ve since learned, since all this started with Mr. Meldeau, that it’s a Model 105, not 105 feet. And I have multiple documents that confused us all about the exact size, including certifications from the manufacturer. We never measured our boat. We tried and we can’t figure it out.”

The lawsuit, which was amended in 2022, accused Meldeau of making repeated complaints to code enforcement about Howell’s property.

Twice in 2019, Meldeau called the city to report that sewage from the yacht was possibly being dumped into the canal, according to the lawsuit. The city came out to investigate but found no evidence to support the claim, the lawsuit says.

“Plainly, Meldeau is obsessed with Howell,” the lawsuit said, “and he shows no signs of stopping with his continued social media posts (though he subsequent to this lawsuit removed or made such posts private), his unsupported accusations to the president of the local homeowners association, and complaints to the marine patrol just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic on or about as of February 9, 2020.”

‘I don’t want him to do that’

According to the lawsuit, Meldeau “spread lies” on Facebook that Howell was dumping sewage in the canal and renting out dock space to other boat owners. The lawsuit references this comment posted on Meldeau’s Facebook account: “Las Olas Isles will turn into a Commercial Marina full of supersized yachts looking to rent docks on the ‘Cheap.’ And so goes the Venice of America.”

In his order, the judge makes mention of a Facebook post where a relative of Meldeau’s commented, jokingly suggesting he shoot holes in the yacht. “I am ready,” Meldeau replied under the comment.

“The record further establishes that Defendant at one time made a Facebook post suggesting that he would shoot holes into the OMG,” the judge wrote. “However, the record does not show that (Meldeau) has ever pointed the gun at someone, made threats towards anyone, or otherwise caused (Howell) to suffer irreparable damage.

The lawsuit alleged that Meldeau set out two chairs on his dock turned east toward the Howell property, then sitting in one and leaning a rifle against the other. In a motion for summary judgment, Meldeau’s attorney says the “rifle” Meldeau was holding was actually a pellet gun his client used to kill iguanas on his sea wall.

The matter came up during Howell’s deposition last year.

“I think sitting with a rifle and looking down at my house is, especially in today’s culture, no, I don’t think that’s acceptable and I don’t want him to do that,” Howell told Meldeau’s attorney. “I wouldn’t sit with chairs and a rifle facing his house.”

But in his findings, the judge noted that Meldeau maintains the device was an air-powered pellet gun used to kill iguanas.

“Regardless, (Howell) last witnessed (his neighbor) on his dock with the device about three years ago,” the judge wrote.

Toward the end of last year’s deposition, Tolber asked Howell whether he had any plans to bring the yacht back and dock it behind his house.

“It’s undetermined right now,” Howell said.

Tolber asked again, rephrasing the question.

“It will not go back behind my house,” Howell replied, “but it’s possible that it could come back here to a neighbor’s.”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at [email protected] Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan

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Now is the time for biden to get russia to stand down in ukraine.

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The time has come to push Moscow to end its war on Ukraine — by supplying Kyiv with the right weapons fast, removing boneheaded restrictions on their use and making clear that Russia simply can’t win.

The alternative: Watch Vladimir Putin and his forces gobble up our ally bit by bit — and then prepare for a far broader Russian-triggered conflict sure to involve NATO and US troops.

Over the past weeks, Russia chalked up some of the largest territorial gains since its invasion of Ukraine, including advances in the country’s northeast and Donbas region.

Washington can help reverse those gains if it chooses.

And now’s the time to do so.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented the costly delays in US military aid, noting that everyone eventually comes to the right decision but about a year late.

It’s “one big step forward,” he said, but “two steps back. So we need to change the paradigm.”

Absolutely right: President Biden’s approach to getting weapons and ammunition to Ukraine has been tragically anemic.

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Ukraine also needs US weapons that can make a difference and permission to use them to their full capacity.

Consider: As Russian forces amassed on Ukraine’s border in preparation for its recent offensive, Ukrainian soldiers were prevented from attacking them with US weapons, thanks to restrictions from Team Biden, which fears provoking Putin and escalating the fighting.

It’s beyond insane: Had Ukraine been able to degrade Russian troops before they advanced — using, say, US rocket launchers and long-range missiles — it’s unlikely it would have lost as much ground and as many troops as it did.

Iran and China supply Moscow with military equipment , with no restrictions. Why can’t Biden & Co. do likewise with Ukraine?

Heck, Russia has no qualms even about violating third-country airspace, as it’s done in Poland.

Biden’s fear of escalation and half-hearted backing of Ukraine — National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan admitted the recent aid package was meant merely to let Ukraine “hold the line” — can only prolong the war.

And risk Ukraine’s eventual defeat.

With American weaponry, Ukraine can accomplish far more.

And it has a golden opportunity now: Reports suggest Putin is ready for a cease-fire along current battlefield lines, meaning he’s increasingly reluctant to pay the price, particularly in Russian lives, of continuing.  

Some doubt that, yet extending the fight would require another deeply unpopular mobilization in Russia.

Were Ukraine allowed to fight with an adequate supply of weapons — and no hands tied — it could not only reverse Russian gains, but force a new call-up that enrages the Russian public, pressuring Putin, perhaps, to stand down.

Biden’s limited-aid-with-strings not only misses this critical opportunity; it needlessly costs Ukrainian lives.

If Biden truly wants Ukraine to survive — for its sake, as well as the world’s — he needs to shed his escalation fears and ramp up unrestricted US aid deliveries now.

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Optimistic About the War in Ukraine, Putin Unleashes a Purge at Home

Despite years of criticism, President Vladimir V. Putin has only now changed his defense minister and allowed high-level corruption arrests.

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By Paul Sonne and Anatoly Kurmanaev

Reporting from Berlin

Periodic outcries over incompetence and corruption at the top of the Russian military have dogged President Vladimir V. Putin’s war effort since the start of his invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

When his forces faltered around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the need for change was laid bare. When they were routed months later outside the city of Kharkiv, expectations of a shake-up grew. And after the mercenary leader Yevgeny V. Prigozhin marched his men toward Moscow, complaining of deep rot and ineptitude at the top of the Russian force, Mr. Putin seemed obliged to respond.

But, at each turn, the Russian president avoided any major public moves that could have been seen as validating the criticism, keeping his defense minister and top general in place through the firestorm while shuffling battlefield commanders and making other moves lower on the chain.

Now, with the battlefield crises seemingly behind him and Mr. Prigozhin dead, the Russian leader has decided to act, changing defense ministers for the first time in more than a decade and allowing a number of corruption arrests among top ministry officials.

The moves have ushered in the biggest overhaul at the Russian Defense Ministry since the invasion began and have confirmed Mr. Putin’s preference for avoiding big, responsive changes in the heat of a crisis and instead acting at a less conspicuous time of his own choosing.

“We have to understand that Putin is a person who is stubborn and not very flexible,” said Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speechwriter who now lives outside Russia. “He believes that reacting too quickly and rapidly to a changing situation is a sign of weakness.”

The timing of Mr. Putin’s recent moves is most likely a sign that he has greater confidence about his battlefield prospects in Ukraine and his hold on political power as he begins his fifth term as president, experts say.

Russian forces are making gains in Ukraine , taking territory around Kharkiv and in the Donbas region, as Ukraine struggles with aid delays from the United States and strained reserves of ammunition and personnel . Top officials in the Kremlin are feeling optimistic.

“They likely judge the situation within the force as stable enough to punish some in the military leadership for its prior failures,” said Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Demand for change at the top of the Russian military has been pent up since the invasion’s earliest days, when stories circulated about Russian soldiers going to war without proper food and equipment and losing their lives while answering to feckless military leaders.

The anger crested with an aborted uprising led last year by Mr. Prigozhin , who died in a subsequent plane crash that U.S. officials have said was most likely a state-sanctioned assassination .

Mr. Prigozhin , a caterer turned warlord who grew rich on state contracts, was an unlikely messenger. But he put high-level corruption on the minds of Russia’s rank and file and the public more broadly, releasing profanity-laced tirades against Sergei K. Shoigu, then the defense minister, and Russia’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov. At one point, Mr. Prigozhin filmed himself in front of a pile of dead Russian fighters and denounced top officials for “rolling in fat” in their wood-paneled offices.

His subsequent failed mutiny showed that the problems festering in the Defense Ministry under Mr. Shoigu for over a decade had boiled over and that the populace craved renewal, said a person close to the ministry who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive topics.

The Russian leader now appears to be moving against the very officials that Mr. Prigozhin had been attacking.

The first harbinger of change arose last month with the arrest of Timur Ivanov , a protégé of Mr. Shoigu and the deputy defense minister in charge of military construction projects whom the Russian authorities have accused of taking a large bribe. He has denied wrongdoing. Mr. Ivanov previously attracted the attention of Aleksei A. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation for his and his wife’s conspicuously lavish lifestyle, including yacht rentals on the French Riviera.

Then, this month, days after Mr. Putin began his new term as president, the Kremlin announced that he had replaced Mr. Shoigu and chosen Andrei R. Belousov, one of his longtime economic advisers, as the new defense minister. Mr. Shoigu was moved to run the Russian Security Council, where he would still have access to the president but would have little direct control over money.

Mr. Belousov has no military experience . But he boasts a relatively clean image and a long government career untainted by large corruption scandals.

“If you want to win a war, corruption at a larger scale impacting the results on the battlefield is, in theory at least, not something you want,” said Maria Engqvist, the deputy head of Russia and Eurasia studies at the Swedish Defense Research Agency.

Still, Ms. Engqvist called high-level corruption in Russia “a feature, not a bug.”

“Corruption is a tool to gain influence, but it can also be used against you at any given time, depending on whether you say the wrong thing at the wrong time or make the wrong decision at the wrong time,” she said. “So you can be ousted with a reasonable explanation that the public can accept.”

Ms. Engqvist said the changes also raised questions about how long General Gerasimov would stay in his position as chief of the general staff and top battlefield commander in Ukraine.

The arrests at the Defense Ministry have gathered pace this month, with four more top generals and defense officials detained on corruption charges. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, denied on Thursday that the arrests represented a “campaign.”

The corruption charges against top Defense Ministry officials have come alongside promises of greater financial and social benefits for the rank-and-file soldiers, an apparent attempt to improve morale and mollify populist critics.

Mr. Belousov used his first remarks after his nomination as defense minister to describe his plans to cut bureaucracy and improve access to health care and other social services for veterans of the war. And on Thursday, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of Parliament, Vyacheslav V. Volodin, and Finance Minister Anton G. Siluanov expressed support for exempting fighters in Ukraine from proposed income-tax increases.

The high-level arrests are unlikely to root out vast corruption in the Russian military establishment, but they could make top officials think twice before stealing at a particularly large scale, at least for a period, said Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“It will introduce a chill into the system and make everyone pause as they try to figure out the new code of accepted behavior,” Ms. Massicot said.

Beyond sending an anticorruption message, at least one of the arrests seemed to be aimed at settling a political score.

Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a top Russian commander who led forces holding off Ukraine’s counteroffensive, chided the Russian military leadership in a widely seen recording last year after he was removed from his post. He was apprehended on Tuesday on fraud charges, according to the state news agency TASS. He denied wrongdoing, his lawyer said.

“The bottom line is that the war exposed a lot of different problems — corruption, incompetence and openness to public expressions of insubordination — that the leadership feels a need to address,” said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. “Now is a good time to do this, precisely because there isn’t a short-term acute risk on the battlefield.”

Paul Sonne is an international correspondent, focusing on Russia and the varied impacts of President Vladimir V. Putin’s domestic and foreign policies, with a focus on the war against Ukraine. More about Paul Sonne

Anatoly Kurmanaev covers Russia and its transformation following the invasion of Ukraine. More about Anatoly Kurmanaev

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Russian assault opens new front, diverting Ukraine forces as Western aid trickles in

Ukrainian police officers evacuated residents from the Tsyrkunivska, Lipetska and Vovchansk territorial communities following a new Russian push in the northeastern Kharkiv region. The push along with the ongoing drive into the eastern Donetsk region, comes after months when the about 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) frontline barely budged.

Ukrainian military medics of the 47th Brigade shift an injured comrade to a stretcher at the field hospital in Avdiivka direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Sunday, May 12, 2024, Russian emergency services work at the scene of a partially collapsed block of flats authorities said was hit during an attack by Ukrainian shelling, in Belgorod, Russia. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

People walk with their belongings to the evacuation point in front of a building that was damaged by a Russian airstrike in Vilcha, near Vovchansk, Ukraine, Sunday, May 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Rescue workers help Liudmila Kalashnik, 88, after evacuation from Vovchansk, Ukraine, Sunday, May 12, 2024. Her husband was killed in their house after a Russian airstrike on the city. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People sit in a bus after evacuation from Vovchansk, Ukraine, Sunday, May 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

This photo released by Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov’s Telegram channel on Sunday, May 12, 2024, volunteers help an elderly woman to leave an area of a partially collapsed block of flats after a missile attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Russian city of Belgorod, Russia.In a statement, Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top law enforcement agency, said that the 10-story block had been hit by Ukrainian shelling. (Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov Telegram channel via AP)

Liudmila, 85, looks though the window of a bus after being evacuated from Vovchansk, Ukraine, Sunday, May 12, 2024. Her husband was killed in their house after a Russian airstrike on the city. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this photo taken from video released by Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov’s Telegram channel on Sunday, May 12, 2024, Russian emergency services transport a wounded person from a partially collapsed block of flats authorities said was hit during an attack by Ukrainian shelling, in Belgorod, Russia. In a statement, Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top law enforcement agency, said that the 10-story block had been hit by Ukrainian shelling. (Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov Telegram channel via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops were locked in intense battles with Ukrainian soldiers around the embattled town of Vovchansk in northeast Ukraine on Monday, pushing ahead with a ground offensive that opened a new front and put more pressure on overstretched Ukrainian forces.

Moscow’s renewed northeast offensive, launched late last week, was the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invasion began.

In just two days, Moscow has captured from 100 to 125 square kilometers (38 to 47 square miles) that include at least seven villages, most of them already depopulated, according to two open source monitoring analysts.

Vovchansk, among the largest towns in the area whose pre-war population of 17,000 had dwindled to just 2,500 before Russia renewed its ground assault last week, has emerged as a key focus of the pitched battles engulfing the Kharkiv region. By Monday, only 200 to 300 residents remained, said Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov, as Russian forces closed in from three sides.

Poorly built fortifications and long-term ammunition shortages enabled Russia’s sweeping advance in the area since Friday, local officials and soldiers said. The Kremlin’s forces were seeking to divert and distract Ukrainian troops across the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line until a big batch of new military aid for Kyiv from the U.S. and European partners arrives on the battlefield in the coming weeks and months, Ukrainian commanders and analysts said.

That makes this period a window of opportunity for Moscow and one of the most dangerous for Kyiv in the two-year war , they said. By intensifying offensive operations, Russia seeks to stretch Ukraine’s forces thin and forge breakthroughs.

Russian forces claimed to have taken an additional 90 square kilometers (35 square miles), which has not been independently confirmed.

Opening a new front from two points along the border with the Russian region of Belgorod was the easiest tactic to pin down and divert Ukrainian forces from heavy battles raging in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Russia’s most sought-after prize.

“The enemy identified the most geographically convenient place ... the state border line,” said Yurii Federenko, commander of the ACHILLES battalion of the 92nd brigade. His unit was among others rotated into the northeast from the Donetsk region to stabilize the northeast front, he said.

He fears a similar front may be opened in the Sumy region, which also shares a border with Russia.

The string of villages captured along the contested gray zone, where enemy shelling precludes the building of fortifications, were also the easiest for Moscow’s forces to nab. Their momentum will likely slow as they approach better fortified settlements, Ukrainian commanders said.

Small batches of U.S. military aid have started to trickle into the front line in the form of much needed artillery, said Federenko, whose unit received some of the aid. But it will take at least two months before incoming supplies will meet Kyiv’s needs to hold the line, he said. Until they arrive, Ukraine won’t be able to seize the battlefield initiative, he said.

“They now have an opportunity to attack us while we cannot properly reply,” he said.

Russia’s offensive seeks to take advantage of this window of time. “In order to achieve success, in my opinion, in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the enemy needed to spread ... our defense forces. Accordingly, the enemy started the campaign in Kharkiv region specifically,” Federenko said.

Top Biden administration officials and Ukrainian national security officials held a 90-minute call on Monday to discuss the situation on the ground in Ukraine as Russia intensifies its bombardment around Kharkiv.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, and head of the office the president Andriy Yermak, according to Sullivan.

“It was a detailed conversation about the situation on the front, about the capabilities that they are most in need of, and a real triage effort to say, ’Get us this stuff this fast so that we can be in a position to effectively defend against the Russian onslaught,” Sullivan told reporters at a White House briefing.

Sullivan added that a new influx of U.S. weaponry for Kyiv was expected to be announced by the U.S. administration in the coming days.

The Kharkiv incursion has effectively pinned Ukrainian forces in the region, while potentially drawing precious reserves away from heavy battles in the Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar areas of the Donetsk region, where Russia’s advance has been far more significant and strategically important.

Ukrainian local officials said they feared Vovchansk’s fate may mirror that of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, Ukrainian cities where fierce fighting and scorched earth tactics forced Ukrainian withdrawals.

Russian forces were inching closer to Vovchansk, and heavy battles were ongoing on the town’s outskirts. Using assault infantry units Russian forces are attempting to secure positions in three directions, as Ukrainian forces attempt to dislodge them using firepower. Ukrainian commanders describe the battles as dynamic and complicated.

Russian troops have so far entrenched themselves in the villages of Strilecha, Pylna, Borysivka, Krasne, Oliynykove, Mrakovets, Pletenivka, and from there were launching attacks near Hlyboke Zelene Hatysche, and Buchansk.

The capture of the Donetsk city of Avdiivka in February opened a door for the Kremlin’s troops to push westward, deeper into Donetsk. Russia illegally annexed Donetsk and three other regions in 2022 shortly after it invaded Ukraine, and taking control of all of Donetsk is one of the Kremlin’s main war goals.

If Ukraine isn’t able to halt Moscow’s advance, it could create conditions for a possible attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

It could also create a “buffer zone” to protect Belgorod, where frequent Ukrainian attacks have embarrassed the Kremlin. In March, Russia announced plans to evacuate about 9,000 children from the Belgorod region because it was being shelled continuously.

Russian emergency services on Monday finished clearing the rubble in the region’s capital city of Belgorod, where a section of a residential building collapsed following what authorities said was Ukrainian shelling.

Fifteen bodies were pulled from the rubble, Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said, and 27 other people were wounded.

Another three people in the city of Belgorod were killed by shelling late Sunday, he said.

Yevgeny Poddubny, a usually well-connected military correspondent for Russia’s state TV corporation VGTRK, said in a recent Telegram post that the Kharkiv assault marked the beginning of “a new phase.”

“We’re pushing the enemy back from the border, destroying the enemy in order to deprive the Kyiv regime of the opportunity to use relatively cheap rockets to attack Belgorod,” he said.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Britney spears goes naked, a** up in new nsfw video, britney spears 'hello to my a**' in suns up, buns up vid.

Britney Spears ' latest nude moment is seriously NSFW ... as she has put all of her assets on display for all to see.

The singer took to Instagram Wednesday evening, uploading a video of herself rolling around some crystal blue water ... totally nude. At one point, Brit lifts her butt into the air ... making the video even more suggestive.

The Grammy winner deliberately drew attention to her naked bee-hind, captioning her upload ... "Hello to my ass!!"

She chose the caption after previously writing on the post ... "Raised my ass a little higher so I have more booty!!! Thinking of getting injections on my ass to make it fuller like that."

We reached out to Meta to see if the post violates any guidelines. As of now, just like her ass, it's still up in the air.

Of course, this upload is just the latest in a string of concerning posts ... including a recent one where Brit railed about her relationship with her parents .

As TMZ previously reported ... Britney's mental and financial health is of deep concern for those in her orbit, especially after her physical altercation with her BF at the Chateau Marmont.

While some are calling for a new conservatorship , Dr. Drew says it's practically impossible to force the singer to get help.

Alarm bells are still ringing, regardless.

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The Russian navy's biggest warships are becoming its biggest headaches

• Russia's navy has had limited involvement in the war in Ukraine.
• But the war may be affecting Russia's plans to modernize and upgrade its navy.
• Ongoing problems with the Russian navy's biggest warships illustrate that trend. 

Russia's navy has limited involvement in Ukraine, but like the rest of Russia's military, it is still feeling the effects of the war.

Ukraine has sunk a handful of Russian naval ships but the only major one has been the guided-missile cruiser Moskva — an embarrassing loss because it was the Black Sea Fleet's flagship. Away from the battlefield, however, Moscow's setbacks in Ukraine appear to be affecting its naval modernization plans.

This seems most evident with Russia's largest surface warships: its Kirov-class nuclear-powered battlecruisers , Admiral Nakhimov and Pyotr Velikiy, and the Admiral Kuznetsov , Russia's sole aircraft carrier.

They should be the most capable vessels in Russia's surface fleet, but a combination of maintenance issues, funding woes, and poor operational records has made them the Russian navy's biggest headaches.

Kirovs and Kuznetsov

The Kirov-class battlecruisers emerged from a mid-1960s Soviet project to create nuclear-powered warships capable of destroying the nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines in service with NATO navies.

Known in Russia as the Project 1144 Orlan class, the design was eventually merged with a competing cruiser project. Construction began on the first ship, called Kirov, in 1974. By the time it was commissioned in 1980, Kirov-class battlecruisers were meant to able to take on every type of enemy vessel.

Only four of five planned vessels were actually built. The first three — Kirov, Frunze, and Kalinin — entered service in 1980, 1984, and 1988, respectively. The fourth, Pyotr Velikiy , was commissioned into Russia's navy in 1998.

At 827 feet long and with a full displacement of 28,000 tons, Kirov-class battlecruisers are the largest surface warships in the world other than aircraft carriers. Each ship has two nuclear reactors, giving them a range limited only by the endurance of their crews and their machinery.

The Kirovs are also perhaps the most heavily armed warships ever. Pyotr Velikiy, the only ship still in active service, has a main armament of 20 P-700 Granit anti-ship cruise missiles, each of which can carry a 1,653-pound warhead (or a nuclear warhead), has a range of 388 miles, and a top speed of Mach 2.5.

For air defense, Pyotr Velikiy carries 72 S-300 surface-to-air missiles, 128 3K95 Kinzhal SAMs, and six 3M87 Kortik close-in weapon systems, each of which is armed with eight 9M311 SAMs. To defend against submarines, it has one RBU 6000 and two RBU 1000 anti-submarine mortars and 10 torpedo tubes that fire anti-submarine missiles . The ship also has a single twin-barreled AK-130 130mm gun at its rear, just before a helicopter hangar capable of holding multiple Ka-27 and Ka-31 helicopters.

Initially the Kirovs' primary mission was to  sink  US Navy aircraft carriers and their escorts. The battlecrusiers were to take on an escort role of their own with the development of the Admiral Kuznetsov-class carriers, with which the Soviet Navy planned to form carrier battlegroups like those of the US Navy.

When it entered Soviet service in 1991, the Admiral Kuznetsov was supposed to usher in a new era in Soviet naval aviation , bringing fixed-wing jets to a fleet previously only be able to operate helicopters or vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.

Admiral Kuznetsov is about 1,000 feet long and displaces about 58,000 tons — roughly as long but only half the displacement of the US's Nimitz-class carriers . The Kuznetsov's air wing is composed of 18 to 24 jets, mainly Su-33s and MiG-29Ks , and about a dozen Ka-27 or Ka-31 helicopters.

The Kuznetsov's main armament is 12 P-700 Granit missiles in launchers in the forward section of the flight deck , just before the ski-jump. It also has 190 3K95 Kinzhal surface-to-air missiles and 14 close-in weapons systems, six AK-630Ms and eight Kortiks, for air defense.

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The missile arsenal allowed the Soviets to classify Kuznetsov as a "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser" — an important distinction, as it meant the ship could legally transit the Turkish Straits, allowing it to exit the Black Sea, where it was built.

Mixed records

The Kirovs were imposing ships. After they entered service, the US Navy reactivated and modernized its four Iowa-class battleships to add muscle to its own fleet. As stout as they and the Kuznetsov were, however, they couldn't avoid the collapse of the Soviet Union.

During the 1990s, Moscow cut its defense budgets and the military's maintenance issues mounted. The Russians ultimately wrote off over 70% of the Soviet ships they inherited (many of which were outdated anyway).

The size and complexity of the Kirovs meant they needed constant, intense maintenance, which the Soviets and then Russians could scarcely afford.

Maintenance issues forced Kirov and Frunze out of operation in the 1990s. Russian officials decided in 2019 that repairing and modernizing them was too expensive, and both are now being scrapped.

Kalinin, renamed Admiral Nakhimov, rarely deployed after the Cold War. In 1997, it entered a shipyard in Severodvinsk and never left. In 2006, the Russians decided to give it an extensive overhaul and modernization, which began in earnest in 2014.

As the newest ship in the class, Pyotr Velikiy was the most modern. After repairs in 2004, it had a respectable service life, which included deployments around the world. It is currently the flagship of the powerful Northern Fleet.

Like the Kirovs, the Kuznetsov has been plagued by mechanical issues. It has been so breakdown-prone that an ocean-going tug sailed with it on deployments in case it needed to be towed back to Russia.

In 2016, the carrier sailed to Syria — belching thick black smoke along the way — for what is still its only combat mission . It didn't go well: Two jets crashed into the Mediterranean because of issues with the carrier's arresting cable, which eventually led Russia to transfer the entire air wing to a base in Syria.

After the Syria deployment, the Kuznetsov returned to port for an extensive refit. Even in port, the carrier has been unlucky. In 2018, its floating dry dock sank , causing a 70-ton crane to smash through the flight deck. Two fires, one of them deadly, have broken out on the ship since then.

Kuznetsov has been so troublesome that a Russian lawmaker recently proposed scrapping it and trying to acquire the Kuznetsov's sister ship, which Ukraine took possession of after the Soviet collapse and sold to Beijing as an incomplete hull in 1998. (China's navy finished and commissioned that vessel as its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, in 2012.)

Modernization hopes

Despite the setbacks, Russia seems committed to bringing both Admiral Nakhimov and Kuznetsov back to its fleet.

Russian media has reported that Admiral Nakhimov's cable networks and radio-electronic systems have been replaced and that it now carries Kalibr and P-800 Oniks anti-ship missiles. It is also set to receive Otvet anti-submarine missiles, the Pantsir-M anti-air system, and the Paket-E/NK torpedo system.

Russian officials also plan to arm Nakhimov with the 3M22 Zircon hypersonic missile .

After work on the Admiral Nakhimov is completed, the Pyotr Velikiy is supposed to enter the same shipyard for similar upgrades. However, Russian state media, citing a navy source, reported in April that the battlecruiser may be retired instead because of the high costs of Admiral Nakhimov's refit. Other Russian navy sources quickly denied the report to another state media outlet.

Kuznetsov was put in a new, specially built dry dock in May 2022. Russian outlet Izvestia has reported that the carrier's upgrades will include Pantsir-M air-defense systems, a new integrated air-defense control system, new boilers, and special storage facilities for new precision-guided munitions.

Izvestia has also reported that the Russian navy is reforming the Kuznetsov's crew, which was mostly disbanded when the ship began its refit.

Thanks to new automated systems, the crew is supposed to number about 1,500 sailors and aviators, down from 1,900, but Kuznetsov has neither set sail nor had a functioning air wing for about seven years, and the new crew will have to get familiar the ship and its new systems.

The shipyards doing the refits have said they intend to deliver both Admiral Nakhimov and Kuznetsov sometime next year. Delivery dates for both ships have already been pushed back several times, and if the war in Ukraine forces Moscow to reconsider its naval ambitions, they may never return.

Watch: Russia declares victory in Bakhmut, but Ukraine says it's not over

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Strike On Russian Strategic Early Warning Radar Site Is A Big Deal

Satellite imagery confirms a Russian strategic early warning radar site in the southwestern end of the country was substantially damaged in a reported Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week. This looks to be a first-of-its-kind attack on a site linked to Russia's general strategic defense. As such, it points to a new and worrisome dimension to the conflict, especially when it comes to the potential use of nuclear weapons .

A satellite image taken on May 23 that The War Zone obtained from Planet Labs of the Armavir Radar Station in Russia's southwestern Krasnodar Krai shows significant debris around one of the site's two Voronezh-DM radar buildings. These are ultra-high-frequency (UHF) over-the-horizon (OTH) radars that are part of Russia's nuclear ballistic missile early warning system.

What can be seen in the satellite image aligns with pictures taken from ground level that emerged on social media earlier today, which show severe damage to both structures housing the Voronezh-DMs at Armavir. There is also clear evidence of multiple hits on the radar buildings. It is worth noting that radar arrays are generally very sensitive and fragile systems, and even relatively limited damage can result in a "mission kill," rendering them inoperable for an extended period of time.

https://twitter.com/nukestrat/status/1793996516685926870

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1793953144352759974

The date the Planet Labs image was taken also aligns with initial reports that the attacks on Armavir occurred sometime between May 22 and May 23.

At the time of writing, Ukrainian authorities do not appear to have publicly claimed responsibility for the attack on Armavir. There also do not look to be any official statements from the Russian government. Ukrainian forces have targeted multiple locations within Krasnodar Krai , which lies just across the Sea of Azov, in the past using kamikaze drones .

There has been some speculation that Ukrainian forces may have targeted Armavir over concerns about the site's ability to help provide advance warning about its strikes involving U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missiles.

https://twitter.com/FRHoffmann1/status/1793990865662185507

Since receiving a new tranche of ATACMS in secret earlier this year , the Ukrainian armed forces have been using those weapons to good effect against Russian air bases, air defense nodes , and other targets . The latest batch of ATACMS are also longer-range versions than had previously been delivered to Ukraine's military, which have allowed them to hold more targets at risk .

However, experts and observers have pointed out that the Voronezh-DMs at Armavir are fixed in their fields of view, with the primary focus being areas to the southwest. As an example, in 2013, Russian authorities said that the site had detected what appeared to be a ballistic missile launch into the Mediterranean from Libya.

The northern edge of the coverage area of the two radars reportedly does cover the Crimean Peninsula, but there are questions about what the Voronezh-DM, as an OTH, can 'see' that close and that obliquely, especially if the targets in question are lower on the horizon. These radars are primarily designed to detect ballistic missile launches from much further away.

https://twitter.com/russianforces/status/1793999290265968705

https://twitter.com/krakek1/status/1794008346715939149

Regardless of Armavir's direct relevance to the conflict in Ukraine or the exact intended goals of the attack on the site, it has much broader ramifications. The two Voronezh-DMs at the facility are a key part of Russia's larger strategic early warning network and their loss, even temporarily, could only degrade the country's ability to detect incoming nuclear threats. There are also concerns about how this could impact the ability of Russia's overall strategic warning network to evaluate potential threats and eliminate false positives due to possible loss of overlapping coverage in certain areas.

https://twitter.com/krakek1/status/1794012218729591021

Beyond that, it has been pointed out that the attack on Armavir could meet the conditions the Russian government laid out publicly in 2020 for actions that could trigger a nuclear retaliatory strike. Russia's early warning network is part of the country's broader nuclear deterrent posture.

"The conditions specifying the possibility of nuclear weapons use by the Russian Federation" include any "attack by [an] adversary against critical governmental or military sites of the Russian Federation, disruption of which would undermine nuclear forces response actions," according to the Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence the Kremlin put out two years ago .

All of this follows the start of tactical nuclear drills by Russian forces in the country's Southern Military District, which borders Ukraine, on Tuesday. The Russian Ministry of Defense had first announced the drills were coming earlier this month and said they were "in response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation." This appeared to be a reference to French President Emmanuel Macron saying that he would not rule out sending troops to Ukraine in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov2o08yvXxY

The tactical nuclear drills had already reignited discussions about the potential thresholds for Russia's potential use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, something The War Zone has explored in detail previously .

This is also just the latest Ukrainian attack on Russian territory to point to vulnerabilities in the country's air defense network , even around highly-prized strategic assets.

It very much remains to be seen how exactly Russia will respond to the attack on Armavir, which could potentially involve new nuclear signaling to authorities in Ukraine, as well as the foreign benefactors. Whether this attack is a sign of the start of a broader campaign on the part of Ukrainian forces to target strategic military sites with limited direct involvement in the ongoing conflict and significant importance to Russia's early warning and nuclear deterrent postures is also unclear.

Whatever the case, the Armavir will have significant ramifications and could be an indication that spillover from the war inside Ukraine is taking on a newly concerning form.

Contact the author: [email protected]

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