The megayacht "A" that slipped into Auckland was at the time the biggest to ever berth in New Zealand, with interior space almost 15 times the size of an average house. The distinctive vessel is owned by Russian Andrey Melnichenko, who has a fortune estimated to be $17.2 billion, and is in Auckland for maintenance ahead of cruising in summer.
Video courtesy Greg Bowker.
Superyachts belonging to Kremlin-friendly oligarchs face a ban from New Zealand under new sanctions laws this week.
While the big Russian-owned boats have been kept away by the pandemic, the type of vessel that could be in the Government's sights have been some of the most spectacular superyachtsto visit this country.
It is estimated Russians own about 10 per cent of the world's superyacht fleet and owners aligned to the Putin regime are now scrambling to get to safe havens as they face bans and the threat of seizure in some countries as sanctions tighten around more mega-rich friends of President Vladimir Putin.
The big boats are descending on the Maldives, heading towards the Black Sea.
Putin's own boat Graceful left a repair yard in Hamburg in early February and is now moored in the Russian Baltic port of Kaliningrad, beyond the reach of Western sanctions imposed against him this past week.
Two high-profile visitors to Auckland, "A" and Tango, are now being tracked by Florida teen Jack Sweeney, who soared to fame tracking Elon Musk's private jet and has now turned his sights on the yachts of Russian billionaires.
Motoryacht A belonging to Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko came to NZ for a refit. Photo / Greg Bowker
Motor yacht A slipped into Auckland in 2014 and its owner Andrey Melnichenko has for the past four years been on a list of oligarchs identified by the US Treasury Department as close to Putin.
He came to this country with his wife, Serbian model Aleksandra, and the couple travelled throughout the country, apparently enjoying the anonymity and country's laid-back feel while A was being refitted at Devonport.
Andrey Melnichenko and wife Aleksandra toured the country in 2014. Photo / Getty Images
Melnichenko amassed his $20 billion-plus fortune through fertilisers and coal.
The submarine-style A was designed by Philippe Starck. The 119m mega yacht features many mirrored rooms and one guest suite is lined with white stingray skins. One report has its last location at Dubai, a city favoured by the Russian elite.
Another oligarch on the US Treasury list, Viktor Vekselberg, brought superyacht Tango to Auckland in 2017. In the US, an investigation by ABC News reported that he and another billionaire may have played a role in disrupting the US election a year earlier.
He has hit back at the need to sanction him.
Tango boasts a contra-flow swimming pool, a massage/beauty salon and a spacious sun deck with an outdoor cinema.
The boat is now reported as being moored in Spain.
Vekselberg is founder, owner and president of Renova Group, a Russian conglomerate with interests in various sectors, including aluminium, oil and telecoms. He has a net worth of $23b, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In 2004, Vekselberg bought nine jewelled Faberge Imperial Easter eggs given by tsars to family members so they could be returned to Russia, apparently putting him in Putin's good books.
Not all the Russian owners of superyachts that have visited this country have friends in the Kremlin.
Russian vodka tycoon Yuri Schefler's vessel Serene - longer than a rugby field - visited in 2016.
The maker of Stolichnaya vodka announced its major rebranding on Friday, in direct response to its founder's "hardline stance" against the Putin regime and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The company said in a statement that the vodka, which is best known for being marketed as Russian, will be sold and marketed simply as Stoli.
The founder of the group, Russian-born, was exiled from that nation in 2000 for his opposition to Putin. He said on the company's website that: "As the founder of SPI Group of companies, I have personally experienced persecution by the Russian authorities and I share the pain of Ukraine and its people."
Superyacht Serene makes her way into Auckland. Its owner was exiled by Russia. Photo / Brett Phibbs
It announced that it would only use Slovak sources to make sure none of its ingredients came from Russia.
Serene has a helicopter hangar, two helipads and a submarine hangar. There is an underwater viewing space and the vessel has 12 luxurious staterooms for 24 guests who are tended by up to 52 crew.
There's an internal seawater swimming pool, a hot and a cold jacuzzi, plus jet stream swimming pool on the sundeck.
It cost about $500m to build.
Megayacht A is 119m long and visited in 2014. Photo / Greg Bowker
The pandemic and New Zealand's firm border restrictions have put the brakes on the lucrative refit business and the high-end tourism revenue that came with visiting owners and their families and friends.
One industry source said that there was little sign of Russians returning, even before the move to ban Kremlin-aligned superyacht owners.
The biggest impediment to reviving the sector is the current requirement for most foreign visitors to isolate when they're allowed to return later this year.
