'Putin pal' sees superyacht begin another year in UK limbo while draining cash
A superyacht owned by an alleged friend of warmonger President is being prepared for another year imprisoned in UK waters.
Nearly two years after the opulent vessel, Phi, was boarded by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and served with a detention notice, it is still languishing in Canary Wharf. Forbidden to move, the 58.5 metre, £39m vessel owned by Sergei Naumenko, a Russian property businessman, is racking up a large maintenance bill.
Shortly after Russia invaded last year, it was detained under the government's sanctions. This was an unprecedented move and the first time the regulations had been used to detain a ship. The Mirror recently visited the quay where Phi is still docked in a quiet corner of Canary Wharf and saw numerous crew members onboard who were "hunkering down for winter", according to one unnamed member of staff.
Superyacht Phi with the Maltese flag (Getty Images)Naumenko filed a high court claim against the Department for Transport (DfT) in May 2023 and demanded it free his yacht. He said he was targeted simply because he was a wealthy Russian and has continued to claim he has no involvement in Russian politics or any connection with Putin. But his claim was dismissed because it was "a high-value ship ... and its owner, Mr Naumenko, was 'connected with' ", Judge Ross Cranston said in his written ruling.
The former UK transport secretary said at the time of the raid that the vessel was “an icon of Russia’s power and wealth” and hailed its arrest as a "stark warning to Putin and his cronies." In a TikTok filmed and posted by the minister at the quayside, he referred to its owner as an "oligarch" and a personal "friend" of the Russian president. In the high court ruling, Cranston accepted Shapps was wrong to describe Naumenko as a friend of Putin, but conceded that it was "excusable political hyperbole".
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Around lunchtime one afternoon in December, when asked if it was "business as usual" the man in a Phi-branded hoodie replied "yes" as he disembarked to adjust some ropes. He confirmed to the Mirror that the yacht was owned by a Russian businessman, but claimed he "did not know much about him." The mysterious Russian is still liable for the maintenance costs and Yachtbible estimates the running costs of Phi are around £3m.
Most large yachts are registered by offshore corporations in island tax havens to obscure their ownership, which is likely why a huge Maltese flag flails in the wind at the rear of the boat. It is also believed the ship is managed by a company based in Saint Kitts and Nevis — a well-known tax haven. While detained, the crew are permitted to work on board to ensure the safety of the vessel and do odd jobs such as scrubbing the deck. The ship's builder Royal Huisman describes Phi as "magnificently sensuous". The bright blue yacht has a wine cellar, as well as a fresh-water swimming pool and penthouse apartment on the upper deck — to be enjoyed by no one anymore.
According to shipping data, the vessel was only completed by Dutch shipbuilders late in 2021 and only made a single journey, from Zaandam in the Netherlands to London. The vessel had been in the capital for a World Superyacht Awards judging panel event, which was held at the five-star Bulgari hotel in Knightsbridge.
Little is known about Naumenko, but Guy Booth, one of the yacht’s captains,last year he was in his mid-fifties and lived in the Ural mountains in western Russia. Booth, 52, who worked for Naumenko for eight years, claimed Naumenko feels he has "been unjustly punished and has nothing to do with the current Russian regime." Before it was seized, guests would pay around £421,000 a week to luxuriate on the ship. It is unknown whether or not sanctions will be maintained for as long as the Russian invasion and conflict in Ukraine lasts. For now, it is indefinite.
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