The superyacht Dilbar has two helipads, berths for more than 130 people and a 25-metre swimming pool that itself can accommodate another superyacht.
The superyacht Dilbar has two helipads, berths for more than 130 people and a 25-metre swimming pool that itself can accommodate another superyacht. D ilbar was launched in 2016 at a reported cost of more than 648 million US dollars (£490 million). Five years later, its purported owner, the Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, was already dissatisfied. He sent the vessel to a German shipyard last autumn for a retrofit reportedly costing several hundred million. Dilbar was in drydock on Thursday when the United States and European Union announced economic sanctions against Mr Usmanov – a metals magnate and early investor in Facebook – over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and in retaliation for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. US President Joe Biden addressed Russian oligarchs during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, warning: “We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets. We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.” But seizing the behemoth boats could prove challenging. Russian billionaires have had decades to shield their money and assets in the West from governments that might try to tax or seize them. Several media outlets reported last week that German authorities had impounded the Dilbar. But a spokeswoman for Hamburg state’s economy ministry told The Associated Press no such action had yet been taken because it had been unable to establish ownership of the yacht. Dilbar is flagged in the Cayman Islands and registered to a holding company in Malta, banking havens where the global ultra-rich often park their wealth. Working with the UK-based yacht valuation firm VesselsValue, the AP compiled a list of 56 superyachts – generally defined as luxury vessels exceeding 79ft in length – believed to be owned by a few dozen Kremlin-aligned oligarchs. The yachts have a combined market value estimated at more than 5.4 billion US dollars (£4 billion).
