Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich moved his $600m superyacht Solaris out of a Barcelona shipyard hours before the UK announced sanctions against him.
The owner of Chelsea Football Club in England has denied links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but measures against him had been looking increasingly likely due to the war in Ukraine.
MarineTraffic data shows the Solaris is now listed as “cruising” in the western Mediterranean, heading east, but with no destination listed.
The 140-metre vessel left the MB92 yard on Tuesday. The Bermuda-flagged Solaris had been undergoing maintenance.
The shipyard is not commenting.
The German-built superyacht was launched at Lloyd Werft in Germany last year.
Abramovich has put Chelsea FC up for sale and promised to donate money from the proceeds to help victims of the war in Ukraine, although the sanctions place question marks over how that process will now unfold.
A spokeswoman for the Russian billionaire told Reuters: “We never comment on the movements of the yacht or any other vehicles or vessels.”
Western authorities are increasingly looking to seize vessels owned by rich Russians.
Other Russian yachts in Barcelona
There are currently three other yachts reportedly tied to Russian oligarchs at the Barcelona shipyard, according to MarineTraffic.
Reuters reported one of them is linked to Sergei Chemezov, the head of Russian state aerospace and defence conglomerate Rostec.
He was sanctioned last week by the US.
The other two are understood to belong to Russian oligarchs who have not been sanctioned: Andrey Molchanov, the main shareholder in Russian homebuilder LSR, and metals tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov.
Abramovich is reported to own another yacht called Eclipse.
VesselsValue told TradeWinds the ship is heading to Europe from the Caribbean, potentially joining the Solaris.
No destination is shown.
Igor Sechin, head of Russian energy company Rosneft, was also sanctioned by the UK on Thursday, as was Alexei Miller, chief executive of Gazprom.
