Germany seizes world’s largest yacht owned by Russian oligarch

Germany said it has confiscated the world’s largest superyacht owned by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, as part of sanctions against Moscow following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, police sources said Thursday.

The 156-metre (1,680-feet) long “Dilbar” has an estimated value of $600 million ((555 million euros) according to Forbes magazine.

Since last October the boat has been docked for repairs in a Hamburg shipyard.

German customs had been eyeing the superyacht for several weeks, but could not formally seize it earlier due to a legal imbroglio over its ownership.

Eventually the German Federal Judicial Police indicated that they had succeeded “after lengthy investigations, and in spite of concealment via offshore companies, in identifying the owner of the M/S Dilbar and it is Gulbakhor Ismailova, the sister of Alisher Usmanov”.

“The luxury yacht is now under the sanctions regime and so could be confiscated in Hamburg,” police added on Twitter.

The Russian billionaire and his sister are both targeted by European sanctions against Russian oligarchs as well as members of their families.

Usmanov, 68, was ranked sixth in the Sunday Times’ list of the richest people in the UK in 2021.

He is one of dozens of Russian oligarchs hit by Western sanctions since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.

On Wednesday, English Premier League football club Everton suspended its sponsorship agreements with several companies in which Usmanov held shares.

But Ismailova’s media representatives, however, insisted that the yacht was raided by German police and not confiscated.

“Gulbakhor Ismailova was sanctioned by the EU in April 2022 partly due to an investigation by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which later baselessly speculated that she was the legal owner of the Dilbar yacht,” Ismailova’s representatives said.

“Legal documents confirm she has never been the owner or the controlling person of the yacht, which is owned by the independent trustee of an irrevocable discretionary trust where neither Ms Ismailova nor Mr Usmanov has control or even beneficiary rights.”