An Oligarch's Yacht and 10,000 Tons of Love for Putin

If you’re looking for a symbol of the state of Russia-China relations, it’s floating in the waters of Hong Kong. Whatever reservations Chinese leader Xi Jinping may have expressed about the course of the war in Ukraine, the arrival of a Russian oligarch’s $500 million superyacht — and the city government’s refusal to impound it — are a 10,000-ton display of just how relaxed Beijing is about its Moscow associations.

The 465-foot Nord, reported to be owned by Alexey Mordashov, moored in Hong Kong last week, setting off a quasi-legalistic spat between the US and city authorities. Mordashov, the largest shareholder in steelmaker Severstal PJSC, has been sanctioned by the European Union, UK and US for his ties with the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (In a statement, Mordashov says he has never been involved in politics.) A State Department spokesman said Hong Kong’s reputation as a financial center “depends on adherence to international laws and standards.” In response, the city’s government said it fully enforces United Nations sanctions and has no “legal authority to take action on unilateral sanctions imposed by other jurisdictions.”