Date: 2024-07-17 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00022053
RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE
SANCTIONS
Dutch move to hold 12 yachts ordered by wealthy Russians
SANCTIONS
Dutch move to hold 12 yachts ordered by wealthy Russians
A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. ... (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)
Original article: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-european-union-europe-netherlands-7ffcfbdd6c813c65475286a434286045
Burgess COMMENTARY
I have been interested in the 'sea and ships' since I was a child, a very long time ago. In my childhood, I want to join the Royal Navy, but my parents pointed me in a different direction which was certainly a good move. Neverheless I did find myself involved with the sea when I became CFO of an international shrimp fishing company that operated in about 30 different jurisdictions around the world. In that role I learned something of the complexities of maritime law and what is possible and not in the legal operation of ships of all types. I also had something to do with shipyards and vessel construction in different parts of the world.
It is interesting to me to see how many European shipyards have done good business in the last 20+ years building superyachts for Russian oligarchs. My guess would be that there will be a number of shipyards up for sale if Russian oligarchs are no longer in the market. And this will not be the only area of business where Western companies will have to face the reality that their businesses are going to take a hit because of sanctions. Sadly, there will be many business owners in the West that will bring pressure to bear on Western political leadership in order to maintain their profits no matter what goes on in Ukraine and Putin's obnoxious behavior.
So far, the Western public has been very supportive of Ukraine and I hope this will continue ... but so far corporate profits being reported have not yet declined substantially and stock markets remain in the same bubble territory that they have occupied through the pandemic. Taking away the oligarchs toys may seem like a big deal, but it really is tokenism, albeit useful tokenism. Disconnecting Western economies from the many commodities that Russia exports to the West is what has to happen in order to change Putin's calculus, and that is still a long way from happening.
I am scared stiff that business leaders will put profits and investors ahead of everything and will influence Western politicians to do too little and too slow to make it possible for Ukraine to be the winners in Putin's war of aggression.
Peter Burgess
April 6th, 2022
A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain's Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch.The superyacht Tango is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg's assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities.
THE HAGUE (AP) — The Dutch government said Wednesday it is making sure a dozen yachts ordered by super-wealthy Russians are not delivered to anyone as part of sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra wrote in a letter to parliament that the oft-complicated ownership structures of such yachts are actively investigated and that no such vessel would be allowed to leave its construction yard.
Many Russian oligarchs that are now targeted by European Union sanctions have looked to the Netherlands, a traditional seafaring nation, for the super-luxury yachts that the world’s wealthiest people sometimes covet.
“The situation is, at the moment, that in five yards there are 12 yachts under construction for so-called Russian ultimate beneficial owners,” Hoekstra said. “Because of the current export measures, these vessels should not be delivered.”
The U.S. government on Monday seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The move was a first by the Biden administration under sanctions imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and targeting pricey assets of Russian elites.