Russian oligarch Abramovich superyacht cruises off Turkey

Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich’s superyacht was spotted today cruising a few kilometres off the coast of southwest Turkey.

Solaris, a 140-feet vessel worth $600 million, was off the southwestern coast of Turkey and heading west, according to the tracking website MarineTraffic.

The website showed today that the vessel’s status changed to “scenic cruising” from “awaiting orders”, the status it had shown since leaving Tivat, Montenegro, last week.

Georgios Hatzimanolis, a spokesperson for MarineTraffic, told Insider that though yachts and ships can change their status whenever they want, “most likely in this instance” Solaris is “using the status to confuse people from where its final destination is.”

“Lots of speculation on if it will be Turkey, Israel, or even possibly the UAE,” Hatzimanolis said.

Arguably the most well-known among the Russian oligarchs is Roman Abramovich. The owner of Chelsea Football Club in the English Premier League was sanctioned by the British government earlier this month.

Israel has not joined the West in sanctioning Russia and its oligarchs, many of whom are of Jewish origin. The occupation state’s founding Zionist ideology makes it an attractive place for people fleeing their country of birth to escape from the law and to evade sanctions.

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Abramovich’s assets are said to include at least two luxury yachts, one of which is currently off the coast of Italy. Israeli sources claim that the yachts are heading for the settler-colonial state, apparently to ensure that they are not seized.

Abramovich, who took up Israeli citizenship in 2018 after failing to extend his UK work visa, has donated almost $102 million to a far-right Israeli settler organisation which displaces Palestinian families from occupied East Jerusalem. His total donations to Israeli causes, however, are said to total more than $500 million. The oligarch has also purchased at least three properties in Israel, one of which is worth $64.5 million.