Finley said it seemed “a bit of justice” to see the yachts seized.
It is part of a growing online audience watching and observing governments around the world confiscate the assets of Russian oligarchs as part of sanctions against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While it is often possible to store money and transfer it between bank accounts overseas, it is more difficult to keep a 511 foot long mega yacht indoors with multiple helicopters. and tracking system.
automated Twitter accounts, online tracking sites e handmade bingo cardsCasual admirers of financial deals follow the positions of the oligarchs’ ships and planes, often hoping to catch them as they flee or stop in a country they will invade. Social media accounts have emerged to track the movements of these luxury cars and which ones have been frozen or confiscated by governments.
they use sites like Ship Finder, MarineTraffic, or SuperYachtFan, where you can type the name of the ship or a unique identifier known as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or Mobile Maritime Service Identity (MMSI) number. Locations of the oligarchs’ private jets, Flightradar24.com, thanks to satellite tracking technology. It’s not just about location information. Some of the more expensive and popular yachts have their own Wikipedia pages and online followers where details on their best features are documented.
Russian billionaires have become a new object of admiration after the White House and the European Union imposed sanctions on dozens of individual oligarchs and accomplices as part of the increased Western pressure on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
“The governments of the United States and around the world will work to identify and freeze assets – their yachts, luxury apartments, money and other illegal income – held by the Russian elite and their families in our jurisdictions,” White said. . home March 3 statement.
Yacht observers have already witnessed several kidnappings. The Italian financial police arrested the superyacht Lena, owned respectively by Russian oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and Alexei Mordashov, and another named Lady M. According to the Associated Press. VesselFinder recently showed both maps of Italian ports.
French Ministry of Finance last week Announced On Twitter, he arrested a 120,281-foot-long superyacht owned by Russian oligarch Igor Sechin, CEO of oil giant Rosneft. Finding the final location of the ship called Amore Vero was not easy on the tracking sites.
Putin’s allies seek safe waters after the seizure of the Russian oligarch’s $ 120 million yacht
Yachts are not always required by law to share their location, but they usually do so for safety. However, some can disable the automatic tracking system if they want to swim under the radar.
“Whether a yacht is obliged to keep its AIS device under international law or the domestic law of its flag depends only on the size of the yacht, its flag and the position of the yacht,” said lawyer R .. Isaac Hurst. The International Shipping Group says so in an e-mail.
Yacht watch enthusiasts say Russian-owned megayachts have become a brilliant object that people can let off steam and focus on.
“The yacht has the symbolic power to take control of Vladimir Putin’s power and global kleptocracy in the Western countryside,” said Oliver Houston, a London-based political activist and author. Houston is active in the #YachtWatch trend on Twitter.
Houston said wealthy homeowners could be encouraged to pressure Putin to leave Ukraine if they have lost their precious property.
The practice of tracking billionaires’ planes is by no means new: hobbyists, journalists and observers have long followed the movements of executives and government leaders by monitoring their private planes. In 2017, a federal investigation investigated Treasury Secretary Stephen Munchin’s trip on a politically contributing plane. (This turned out to be legitimate.) And before Amazon looked for a second central city in 2018, reporters were looking at where founder Jeff Bezos’ jet flew to find evidence. (Bezos owns the Washington Post.)
he manages @RussiaYachts A Twitter account that shares the locations of some ships, a list of several superyachts and their billionaire owners. Sweeney also created a Twitter account. Share automatic updates Reactive actions of the oligarchs.
Good morning, oligarch #Axis fan! I thought it would be a good idea to start the week with a summary of where things are going right now.
1. Four yachts were “frozen” last week. Note: “They cannot be seized” because the government cannot take control of them and sell them. one /
– Alex Finley (@alexzfinley) March 7, 2022
After starting to track the oligarchs’ assets, he received numerous messages from people who were familiar with his flight tracking ability. This is one way to make locations more transparent, even if their owners are trying to fly (or swim) under the radar.
“They think they are in hiding, but not necessarily,” he said.
Private jets sway less than mega yachts, at least in appearance, but they are still a subject of fascination on the internet.
“Some are very recognizable. “Some of them have their own paint jobs,” said John Ostrower, editor-in-chief of the magazine. Airflow is a news site covering the aviation industry. “[Russian billionaire] Roman Abramovich has a plane he has always called rogue, the 767 is completely painted white, except for this black stripe on the cabin windows. It was sharp. “
College student Sweeney uses data from Twitter ADS-B Exchange, an open source company that publishes air traffic maps around the world. Founder Dan Strufert said almost all planes flying around the world have a transponder that emits the plane’s unique identity and location for safety reasons, such as collision avoidance. ADS-B Exchange is based on crowdsourced data: aviation enthusiasts and radio amateurs have receivers that collect data from flight transponders which the company then displays on a map.
The system is not free from defects. Regions without affected receivers show less flight, and military aircraft can disable transponders, making some areas, such as Crimea, appear as if there are empty skies.
Strufert said he understands that people have been hijacked by huge planes. After all, many people don’t have their own personal fleet.
“It can only help keep [the oligarchs] “It is responsible, but also the countries they fly to, because some countries say they will confiscate their assets,” he said.
Tracking yachts is sometimes more difficult, especially if they are not close to the harbor. The website, which publishes DenizTrafikGemi’s location data, uses satellites and the ground-based reception network to monitor ship positions wherever they are.
The company has approximately 6.5 million unique customers each month, from hobbyists to shipping and banking professionals who use data to track assets. Media and communication leader Georgios Hatimanolis.
How they were released from the Suez Canal: a visual analysis
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, MarineTraffic has seen a “major peak” of interest, said to be a level not seen since the sinking of a large ship in the Suez Canal a year ago. The leaked case of a container ship, Ever Given, has been observed at multiple locations at offshore surveillance sites such as MarineTraffic and VesselFinder, where the ship is often represented by a giant rectangle positioned diagonally across the Suez Canal.
People also look at villas and other luxury properties owned by the Russian elite, looking for ads and satellite images online, as well as looking at public property records and waiting to see if they have been seized by local authorities.
However, Houston, a #YachtWatch user, said, “The yacht is a particularly powerful symbol, not just of their strength, but of our power to crash where it hurts.”
Source: Washington Post
Smith Charles is a talented entertainment journalist and author at The Nation View. He has a passion for all things entertainment and writes about the latest movies, TV shows, music, and celebrity news. He’s known for his in-depth interviews with actors, musicians, and other industry figures, and his ability to provide unique perspectives on the entertainment industry.
