Dutch customs officials have identified another group of superyachts that may be owned by Russian individuals. The service is currently monitoring 24 of these luxury yachts worth a total of €1.6 billion, RTL Nieuws reports.
Two of the yachts are not allowed to leave the Netherlands. They are “frozen” because their owners are definitely known to be Russians or Russian companies on the list of sanctions that the European Union imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The list is of individuals and countries that support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
The owners of the remaining 22 yachts are not included in the sanctions list, but they cannot leave the Netherlands either. EU sanctions also prohibit the export of luxury goods worth more than 300 euros to Russia. The fact that customs officials are still finding Russian yachts in the Netherlands months after the invasion began is because the “ultimate beneficiary” is not always transparent and easily identifiable. Companies are required to clearly state who will take delivery of a given yacht, but this is not always the case. For three of the 22 yachts, the identity of the beneficial owner is still under investigation.
