"Putin's Yacht" is Headed for the Arctic, Out of Ukraine's Reach
Photo: superyachtfan.com
Prompted by heavy Ukrainian attacks on the Kronstadt naval base and nearby oil facilities in the St Petersburg area in the last week, President Putin is moving one of his luxurious private yachts to safety.
The Kosatka (IMO 1011551, whose Russian name means “Killer Whale” in English), was previously known as Graceful before US sanctions prompted a name change. The 82-meter yacht has both fresh and sea water swimming pools and a helipad, and had previously been used by President Putin for cruising in the Black Sea.
In February 2022, the Kosatka was undergoing refurbishment at the Blohm & Voss yacht yard in Hamburg. Two weeks before the Russian invasion in February 2022, and although the work had not been completed, the Kosatka left Hamburg in a hurry. Taking a short cut through the Kiel Canal, she made for the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in the Baltic. She was later spotted in the St. Petersburg area, and may even have attempted an ultra-long-distance voyage to the Black Sea, according to the dissident Anti-Corruption Foundation.
On June 27, following the attacks on St Petersburg, the Kosatka departed Kaliningrad (per The Telegraph) and set off for the Danish Strait. She was escorted by RFS Severomorsk (D619), an Udaloy-class destroyer, and for good measure the salvage/rescue ship Voevoda (IMO 1025978).
There was initially some thought that the flotilla was heading for Turkey, but AIS systems of both the Kosatka and the Voevoda suggest both vessels are heading north-east up the Norwegian coast, seemingly on a course plotted for Murmansk. Severomorsk was photographed in the closed military port city of Severomorsk on Saturday.
President Putin, clearly nervous after the attacks on naval targets and infrastructure in St. Petersburg, apparently is also worried that the Kosatka would no longer be safe in the Baltic. Early on July 4, there was a further series of Ukrainian attacks on the St Petersburg area, hitting oil terminals at Vysotskand the Kronstadt naval base once again. Infrastructure targets and the Buyan Class corvette RFS Serpukhov (F563) have previously been the subject of sabotage attacks in the Kaliningrad exclave, but the port has not yet been subject to aerial or sea drone attacks.
The Ukrainians are known to want to extend their drone raids into Kaliningrad, but have encountered some opposition from the Baltic NATO countries, over whose territory the drones would normally have to overfly or sail to reach Kaliningrad. A Ukrainian drones has already been shot down over Lithuania, air defenses mistakenly having thought it was a Russian drone.
President Putin’s jitters may have been amplified by tensions over Belarus, whose northern border is a short hop across the Suwalki Gap from Kaliningrad. Ukraine has threatened President Lukashenko with consequences if Russian drone control and repeater sites on Belarusian territory, used to facilitate Russian drone attacks on western Ukraine, are not closed down. Such consequences might involve Ukraine using the much shorter direct drone route over Belarus to hit Russian targets in Kaliningrad.
In June, a more modest 71-meter private yacht also associated with President Putin, the Victoria (IMO 1009663), was moved from Krasnodar Krai on the Black Sea coast to relative safety in Bodrum in Turkey, arriving on July 1.
President Putin has an ornate sea-side Italianate palace near Gelendzhik in Krasnodar Krai, whose attractions as a holiday destination have been somewhat degraded by clouds of black smoke and the proximity of the war he initiated in Ukraine.
Source: maritime-executive.com