Special permit

Confiscated Putin yacht to be renovated

The confiscated Scheherazade

(Bild: APA/AFP/Federico SCOPPA)

The mega yacht Scheherazade, which was confiscated in May 2022 and is said to belong to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and is moored in the port of the Italian town of Marina di Carrara, is being refitted. Italy has not only allowed the officially unknown owner to pay staff for the yacht and its maintenance, but also to refit it.

As the Financial Times reported at the weekend, the agency responsible for managing the frozen assets of numerous Russian oligarchs as a result of the war in Ukraine had reached an agreement with the Ministry of Finance in Rome on the use of confiscated funds for the renovation. There were no further details as to whose money would be used. The name of ex-Rosneft boss Eduard Khudainatov keeps cropping up in connection with the Scheherazade.

A boat of the Italian financial police at Scheherazade after its seizure in May 2022

(Bild: APA/AFP/Federico SCOPPA)

Ex-Rosneft boss as a front man for Putin?
According to media reports, however, Khudainatov is merely a front man to conceal the ownership of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin. Activists surrounding the imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny also claim to have evidence of a connection to Putin. This is because some of the yacht's crew members are also said to be in the service of Putin's security apparatus. In response to a question from the Financial Times, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained: "These are groundless rumors."

The 140-metre-long megaship has two helicopter decks, a gym, a dance floor and a swimming pool and was in Tuscany for repairs in 2022. Shortly before the yacht was due to set sail again, the Italian tax authorities struck at the suspected Putin yacht and three other oligarch yachts. The authorities in Spain, France, Germany and the UK did the same.