Megayachts Run Low on Safe Harbors as Russia Sanctions Bite

‘Neutral’ Fiji’s seizure of Amadea sends warning to tycoons
Yachts have fled to places like Dubai, Turkey and Maldives

The yacht Amadea arrives at the Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii, on June 16.Photographer: Eugene Tanner/AFP/Getty Images

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By K Oanh Ha

June 22, 2022 at 11:00 PM UTC

Updated on

June 23, 2022 at 5:01 AM UTC

When the $325 million Amadea superyacht that’s been linked to Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov sailed into Fiji in April, the captain may have figured he had found a safe haven.

The laid-back South Pacific island nation hadn’t joined in a global push to impose sanctions on Russia and many of President Vladimir Putin’s wealthy supporters, and had just a few weeks before abstained from a United Nations resolution supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity.