Putin's Yacht is Under Seizure, Yet Someone is Spending Millions to Renovate It

The superyacht "Scheherazade," reportedly belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was seized near the shores of Italy shortly after the onset of the Ukrainian war and is currently undergoing renovation. It remains a mystery who is funding the renovation, estimated at 700 million dollars.

Italy seized the yacht in May of last year; however, according to well-informed sources from the British Financial Times, the anonymous owner has still been allowed to continue paying the salaries of the yacht's 92-member crew, as well as for servicing and maintenance while it resides at the Marina di Carrara port in Tuscany.

“Scheherazade” is one of the luxurious assets seized by Western countries as part of extensive sanctions against the Russian Federation. The 140-meter yacht, built in 2020, features six decks, two helipads, a swimming pool, a beauty salon, and gold-plated bathrooms.

The yacht is currently being renovated by the Italian Sea Group, a Milan-registered company that confirmed this information to the Financial Times, but declined to provide further comments.

Sources familiar with the situation revealed to the British publication that the official owner of the yacht is former executive director of the state-owned oil company Rosneft, Eduard Khudainatov, who has come under Russian sanctions; however, as Bloomberg reported last May, oligarch Eduard Khudainatov is merely a figurehead.

U.S. authorities believe that the superyacht may actually belong to President Putin, as The New York Times reported last March.