£370m Russian superyacht linked to Putin ally sails through Strait of Hormuz
A superyacht linked to a key ally of Vladimir Putin was allowed to sail through the Strait of Hormuz despite the blockade that is in place.
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The 465ft Nord yacht, linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov, travelled from Dubai to Muscat, Oman over the weekend.
It is one of only a handful of private vessels to transit through the Strait during the conflict.
Records indicate the £370m yacht was registered to a firm owned by the wife of Mordashov in 2022. It boasts a swimming pool, submarine and helipad.
Mordashov, who has close ties to Putin, is worth about £27bn. He is believed to be Russia’s richest man.
According to Forbes, he is the majority shareholder in steel and mining firm Severstal, which he ran as CEO for 19 years before resigning in 2015.
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He is the son of mill workers and rose to become finance director at a steel mill before he earned his massive fortune due to huge rises in the world’s gold market.
He was sanctioned by the UK, US and Europe due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and in 2022 the European Union blacklisted him and froze his assets.
Marine tracking websites showed that the Nord yacht departed Dubai and crossed the Strait of Hormuz on April 25 heading to Oman.
Approximately one-fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies normally pass through the waterway.
Maritime traffic through the Gulf channel is currently at a fraction of pre-war levels.
Iran is continuing to grant exemptions for Russian-linked shops allowing them to traverse the Strait without any transit fees or threat of attack.
Iran briefly reopened the waterway for commercial traffic on April 17 during a temporary ceasefire but closed it again shortly afterwards accusing the US of ‘piracy’.