Roman Abramovich’s $600m superyacht is cruising off Turkey’s coast after week with no destination

Much like Chelsea, his 140-foot Solaris is in limbo

Roman Abramovich's superyacht is currently floating off the coast of Turkey with no clear destination in sight. According to tracking website MarineTraffic, the 140-feet Solaris model yacht worth $600m changed its status from "awaiting orders" to "scenic cruising" and is likely waiting until the last minute to declare which port it is setting sail for. Georgios Hatzimanolis, a spokesperson for the global ship tracking intelligence organisation, told Insider that although yachts and ships regularly change their status as they like, "most likely in this instance [it is] using the status to confuse people from where its final destination is." Hatzimanolis went on to remark that there is "lots of speculation on if it will be Turkey, Israel or even possibly the UAE" but the vessel shows no signs of docking any time soon. Abramovich is one of many Russian oligarchs sanctioned as part of economic pressure being placed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. It is thought that Abramovich's Solaris left a port in Barcelona shortly before he was sanctioned by the UK government on March 8. So far, more than 1,000 individuals and entities have been sanctioned by the UK since the invasion began and a large number of yachts and private ships have been targeted among those entities' assets. In fact, in addition to Italy capturing more than £118m in yachts and properties, Abramovich's superyacht isn't the only one currently stranded/awaiting new orders; former KGB agent Vladimir Strzhalkovsky's luxury boat, 'Ragnar' is stuck in Norway after local oil suppliers were unwilling to refuel it. In short, they said, "They can row home".

Related links:

• Roman Abramovich disqualified as Chelsea director
• Sanctioned Russian oligarch is scared as 'I may have to clean the house myself'
• John Terry confirms he is part of 'True Blue' Chelsea consortium bid