(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Gang On The Run [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-08 Roman Abramovich and his yacht Eclipse Yesterday I wrote about how the fortunes of Russian oligarchs are gradually melting away amid the pressure from international sanctions. Among other things I have noted how an international kleptocapture task force is working to seize some of the oligarchs’ favourites assets such as their obscene villas and gaudy megayachts. Now, today Business Insider published a rather curious story about how oligarchs are trying to hide their beloved toys from the long arm of the law. How did the journalists learn about that? You’ll never guess – satellite imagery and heat maps. According to the Insider heat maps from space-based data and analytics firm Spire showed that oligarchs' superyachts were located in completely different destinations in January this year compared with before the war started in February 2022. Apparently, while some of the yachts trekked across the globe to steer clear of sanctions against Russian oligarchs, others turned off their tracking signals to avoid detection. For example, a vessel called Galactica Super Nova that is reportedly owned by Vagit Alekperov – an ex-CEO of the biggest Russian private oil company Lukoil – stopped sending tracking signals as far back as March for no obvious reasons other than to avoid sanctions. Business Insider also published a few heat maps displaying the movements of Russian oligarchs' superyachts between February 2021 and February 2022, and then from February 2022 to January 2023. The yellow spots indicate the yachts. Hence, the more yellow spots the are the more oligarchs’ yachts were identified in a given area. Hot map of oligarchs’ yacht movement According to Business Insider: The first map shows two popular paths for the yachts — one was straight down the west coast of America all the way to Chile, and another was across the Atlantic Ocean. The luxury vessels were also common in Iceland, the Mediterranean Sea, and along the coastline of France, Portugal, and Norway, per the map. One year on, the trends have distinctly changed. The second map shows within a year, oligarchs' superyachts avoided most of America's west coast and floated close to the Hawaiian Islands, Mexico, and The Caribbean. Fewer vessels crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and the vast majority stayed away from the Mediterranean. As per the Insider’s findings, the Mediterranean was the real hotspot and the most popular destination for the Russian oligarchs. Before the start of the war Russian yachts would predominantly linger around south European countries such as Spain, Italy, France, Croatia and Greece. Hot map of oligarchs’ yacht movement in the Mediterranean “The only country in the region attracting the yachts was Turkey, per Spire's map. Turkey still offers a safe haven for Russian oligarchs' assets because it's yet to sanction Russia for its aggression against Ukraine. Two superyachts owned by sanctioned billionaire Roman Abramovich both sailed to Turkey in March and have remained there ever since, according to Marine Trafficdata.” Another curious finding is that before the war some of the oligarchs liked to contemplate the beauty of the northern seas and fjords. Specifically, some of the Russian yachts stuck around Iceland, Norway, UK and parts of the northern coasts of Germany and France. After the war they are all gone with the wind – hardly any activity from oligarchs’ superyachts has been recorded in that region after February 2022. Hot map of oligarchs’ yacht movement in Northern Europe ‘Where to?’ one should ask. That’s a good question. And the answer may seem rather obvious. The most popular destinations for the oligarchs’ yachts now are Dubai, the Maldives, and the Seychelles. The reason is not the beautiful nature and picturesque landscapes as you might think, but rather the fact that none of these locations have an extradition treaty with the US, meaning that no matter how long the arms of our justice may be, there are still some ‘safe harbours’ that are willing to ‘provide shelter’ to anyone. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/8/2151939/-Gang-On-The-Run Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/