Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s megayacht Eclipse has finally found a home in the sanction-free Turkish resort town of Marmaris.
The 533-foot long megavessel had been cruising international waters after the European Union and several other Western nations slapped sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, his oligarch friends, and their million-dollar properties.
Abramovich’s other megayacht, Solaris, also secured a spot about 40 miles away in Bodrum, Turkey. A group of Ukrainian protesters in a motorboat flying a flag that read, “No War,” tried to stop the docking but were held back by police.
The yachts’ arrival in Turkey means they are safe from punishing sanctions. Efforts to seize assets linked to oligarchs have been described as a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game as the crews tried to avoid capture.
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Shipping trackers showed the destinations and statuses of the yachts changing in an effort to throw off trackers. Solaris picked up speed as it sailed Monday through a narrow channel between the Greek island of Simi near Rhodes and mainland Turkey, after updating its status from “awaiting orders” to “scenic cruising.”
Turkey, a NATO member, has been performing a delicate balancing act since the invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24. The country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has sought to keep it out of the conflict as much as possible but has faced growing pressure to pick a side.
In the past, Erdogan and Putin have had a rosy relationship — so close that Turkey was excluded from a NATO leadership-level meeting before the Russian invasion, according to Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. But Erdogan has also irritated Putin, most recently by selling drones that have been used to strike Russian forces in Ukraine.
While Turkey has at times criticized Moscow’s invasion, it has also positioned itself as a neutral party trying to mediate between the two warring nations.
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For now, the country is keeping its borders and docks open to people such as Abramovich, who, at a net worth estimated at $12.4 billion, is running out of places to go.
