Superyacht Putin spotted off the Estonian coast with a new name: “Killer Whale” or “Orca” | Abroad

Putin’s luxury yacht is 81 meters long and is worth around 119 million euros. Dubbed “Graceful” (graceful, graceful, graceful), she was in the port of Hamburg, Germany, for maintenance, when Putin brought her to safety on February 7 in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, nestled between Poland and Lithuania. This was 17 days before the Russians invaded Ukraine, and therefore before the sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on Russia and its oligarchs. On June 2, the United States added Putin’s “Graceful” and three other yachts to its sanctions list.

Forbes has now got hold of photos taken by Carl Groll, photographer for TheYachtPhoto.com, on September 25. It shows a mega yacht under the Russian name “kosatka”, which means “killer whale” in English, or orca in Dutch. Forbes compared photos of the “Orca” with the “Graceful” and concluded that they were the same yacht. It is not known exactly when the name change took place. The ship’s transponder has been off since at least August 30, when it was still in Kaliningrad.

Spotted off the coast of Estonia, the “Orca” sailed north into the Baltic Sea, escorted by an armed vessel from the Russian Coast Guard. Putin’s yacht may have been heading for St. Petersburg, writes Forbes.

The ‘Kosatka’ has a helipad, suites that can accommodate up to 12 people and an indoor swimming pool that can be transformed into a theater and dance floor. The vessel also includes towel storage cabinets that double as vodka bars and a suite with a wine cellar that can hold up to 400 bottles. The yacht was delivered in 2014.

Besides the “Orca”, Putin is linked to at least five other yachts, the most impressive of which is the Scheherazade, which is 140 meters long and worth more than 500 million euros. The Scheherazade has been confiscated by the Italian government and is anchored in the port of Marina di Carrara. The other four yachts would be in Russia.