At least 16 Russian-owned superyachts have been seized, in Germany, Spain and the US. Around 10 per cent of the world's superyachts are owned by Russians and those with links to President Putin are being hunted down by sanctions. Of course, the knock-on effect of this is that boatyards, designers, crew and marinas are scared of getting too close to the wrong money, for fear that bills may be left unpaid once the yachts have been seized by the authorities. Yachts that are currently undergoing expensive customisations for Russian customers look set to leave yacht designers with a colossal unpaid bill should they be detained or be caught up in the chaos of restricted bank transactions of sweeping western sanctions. Operation costs typically run about 15% of the yacht's value each year, which means annual upkeep alone can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions. Russian yacht owners may also struggle to pay crews or maintenance if they can't transfer money, although cryptocurrency is becoming an increasingly popular way around the issue.
