Russian billionaire’s superyacht suddenly missing: Report
(NewsNation) — A Russian billionaire’s superyacht has suddenly gone off the grid, according to The Daily Beast.
The Galactica Super Nova, which is owned by Russian oil firm Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov, was apparently last seen on March 2 in Tivat, Montenegro, according to a Yacht-tracking site called MarineTraffic.
The site currently says “Vessel is Out-of-Range.”
The Daily Beast reports that the yacht was in Barcelona, Spain one day before arriving in Tivat.
Turning off a ship’s automatic tracking system, also known as IOS, violates the international maritime regulations, according to the International Maritime Organization’s website.
“The regulation requires AIS to be fitted aboard all ships of 300 gross tonnage and upwards engaged on international voyages, cargo ships of 500 gross tonnage and upwards not engaged on international voyages and all passenger ships irrespective of size. The requirement became effective for all ships by 31 December 2004,” the website reads.
Sam Tucker, the Head of superyachts at VesselsValue, told the Daily Beast that for the last year they had very reliable signal coming from the Galactica Super Nova.
“We are very surprised that there has been no signal received from either our satellites or ground stations,” Tucker said.
Marine lawyer Duncan Bateson told The Daily Beast that “if captains of Russian-linked boats are turning off their AIS tracker, then it’s because they’re trying to evade being tracked.”
Earlier this week, the Associated Press compiled a list of 56 superyachts — luxury vessels exceeding 79 feet in length — believed to be owned by a few dozen Kremlin-aligned oligarchs.
AP tracked the last known location of the vessels and found that many of the superyachts had already fled to remote ports in small countries such as the Maldives and Montenegro, possibly beyond the reach of Western sanctions.
NewsNation reached out to Lukoil for comment and has yet to hear back.