Rich Russian oligarchy keeps super boats in Dubai safe from sanctions – Executive Digest

The wealthy oligarchy of the Russian Federation, which already photographed playing ice hockey with Vladimir Putin, has joined the list of those who have transferred their valuable assets to Dubai to avoid sanctions.

Vladimir Botanin, who runs the world’s largest nickel refinery and palladium manufacturer, has not yet been approved by the United States and Europe because such restrictions could hurt metal markets and break supply chains, analysts say.

Potanin owned $ 30.6 billion in personal assets before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Forbes magazine, the largest shareholder in mining company Nornickel.

But, like the increasingly blacklisted Russian oligarchy, he took the precaution of moving his $ 300 million super boat to a safe haven in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Called the Nirvana, it is 88 meters long and is equipped with a glass lift, gym, ‘Jacuzzi’, cinema room for three-dimensional predictions and two landscapes for exotic reptiles. In the harbor full of floating and gleaming ‘mansions’, nudity stands alone.

Built in the Netherlands, the navy blue hull, anchored on Tuesday, displayed the flag of the Cayman Islands when it was spotted in Port Rashid by Andhra journalists, valued at $ 156 million, in the eyes of another super boat Madame Quinn. Owned by Russian deputy Andrei Scotch.

The arrival of Russian luxury ships in Dubai has become an outward sign of the United Arab Emirates’ reluctance to oppose the Russian occupation of Ukraine and to tighten sanctions on the Russian Federation.

The United Arab Emirates is on the treaty list of countries where Russians can fly directly. This Middle Eastern financial center has become an important destination for wealthy Russians, in part because of its reputation for welcoming money from everywhere, both formal and obscure.

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Julia Friedlander, a former senior policy adviser to Europe in the U.S. Treasury Department of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said: “They are not trying to hide the fact that they accept oligarchy and their boats. “When you are on the sidelines of a conflict, it is not in your political interest to do so. They want to keep the money coming in from everywhere.

The United Arab Emirates’ position has provoked tensions with the United States, which wants its ally in the Persian Gulf to help combat Russian sanctions.

Wally Adiemo, the US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, one of the key US coordinators in the embargo enforcement strategy, visited the United Arab Emirates last week to voice the Joe Biden administration’s concerns about Russia’s financial flows and to seek further monitoring.

However, some major oligarchy groups have escaped from the blacklist due to their strategic assets.

Despite suffering from Australian and Canadian sanctions, Botan avoided all of these measures, which earned him the reputation of being the ‘King of Nickel’.

“We have a significant shortage of essential metals and we do not know where these supply chains are going. So should we ask whether allowing him + will make things worse? These are serious considerations,” Friedlander said.

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