ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A yacht belonging to Chelsea football club owner and sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is docked in Turkey’s Aegean resort of Bodrum, Turkish media reports said on Monday, amid international efforts to freeze assets of top Russian businessmen with ties to the Kremlin .
Turkey’s private NTV television said the Bermuda-flagged luxury yacht Solaris docked at Turkey’s southern port after sailing from Montenegro, which has not joined sanctions against Russia.
A group of Ukrainians carrying Ukrainian flags reading “No War” boarded a small motorboat and tried to prevent the yacht from docking, Sozcu newspaper reported.
It was not known if Abramovich was on board the yacht or if she was transferred to Turkey to avoid sanctions.
Last week, the European Union imposed sanctions on Abramovich when it updated a list of people at risk of asset freezes and travel bans over their ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, which sent the Russian military to invade Ukraine. Abramovich had already been punished in Britain.
NATO member Turkey has close ties with Russia and Ukraine. It has criticized Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but has also positioned itself as a neutral party trying to mediate between the two.
Turkey has closed the Turkish Straits connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to most Russian warships, but has not imposed sanctions on Russia or closed its airspace to Russian flights.
Last week, Abramovich arrived in Istanbul on his private jet from Jerusalem before leaving for Moscow the next morning.