One of the world’s largest yachts, owned by a Russian oligarch billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s who faces sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine, was seized Wednesday by German authorities, marking one of the first super-yachts to be seized as Europe and the U.S. crack down on the Russian billionaires within Vladimir Putin’s orbit.
The 512-foot yacht Dilbar — which Usmanov purchased in 2016 for $600 million and was, at one point, the largest yacht in the world by tonnage — was seized two days after the European Union announced plans to sanction the oligarch. The Dilbar was docked in Hamburg, Germany, where it was undergoing a refitting job since October 2021, Forbes reports, adding that shipbuilders that were working on the Dilbar didn’t show up for work Wednesday because the German government had taken the yacht