Russian oligarch Abramovich’s 2nd yacht also docks in Turkey

ISTANBUL

A second superyacht belonging to Chelsea soccer club owner and sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has docked in a resort in southwestern Turkey, Turkish media reports said on March 22. 

Demirören News Agency said the Bermuda-registered Eclipse docked at a port in the resort of Marmaris, amid international efforts to freeze assets belonging to top Russian businessmen linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A day earlier, Abramovich’s Bermuda-flagged luxury yacht My Solaris arrived in the nearby resort of Bodrum, triggering a protest by a group of Ukrainians who boarded a small motorboat and tried to prevent the yacht from docking.

Last week, the European Union updated a list of individuals facing asset freezes and travel bans over their ties to the Kremlin and began imposing sanctions on Abramovich. The 55-year-old had already been punished in Britain.

NATO-member Turkey, which is not applying sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, has close ties to both countries. It has criticized Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine but has also positioned itself as a neutral party trying to mediate between the two.