Quantum Blue, owned by Russian billionaire Sergei Galitsky, has been prevented from leaving the port of Monaco. However, the man is not yet subject to European sanctions.
This is the lifeline of Russian yachts. This Thursday morning, Quantum Blue, owned by billionaire Sergei Galitsky, was prevented from leaving the port of Monaco by the Monegasque Maritime Police, according to information from Var Matin. It was then that the French customs invested the 104-meter ship, which for technical reasons postponed its departure by one day.
Sergei Galitsky, Russia’s 40th fortune according to Forbes, founded Magnit, a Russian retail giant, before selling his company in 2018. He currently owns the Krasnodar football club, where former French national Remi Cabela plays in particular.
Galitsky, 54, is not subject to European sanctions, but blocking his yacht seems like a precautionary principle. The list of targeted personalities is updated regularly and few oligarchs avoid sanctions.
Yacht hunting
This Thursday morning, Bruno Le Mer announced the detention in La Ciotat of the yacht Amore Vero, owned by a company linked to the head of the Russian group Rosneft. “We thank the customs for this seizure as part of the implementation of European Union sanctions against Russia,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Mer wrote on his Twitter account.
In Germany, the Dilbar, the world’s fourth largest yacht, is currently on dry dock in Hamburg. According to German media, the authorities are trying to officially demonstrate that it really belongs to Aliher Usmanov, Russia’s 7th wealth and subject to European sanctions.
Other yachts are currently on their way to the Maldives, offering a protective legal framework.
Thomas Leroy BFM Business Journalist