Off the coast of Denmark on the evening of June 29, the yacht Graceful, which has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was spotted. Danish outlet DR reported this, citing data from the tracking service MarineTraffic.
According to Agentstvo, the vessel’s destination is listed as Istanbul. DR says the yacht is traveling with a Russian destroyer and the patrol boat Voevoda. Photos taken from the shore by eyewitnesses confirm that the vessel is indeed Graceful; the outlet also says the convoy can be seen in satellite imagery.
DR notes that the yacht had been out of radar view since August 30, 2022. After the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the vessel’s AIS automatic identification transmitter was turned off.
In October 2022, Forbes reported that Graceful had been seen off the coast of Estonia while heading toward St. Petersburg. Before that, the yacht had been in Kaliningrad, where it was moved from Germany shortly before the war began. Journalists said the vessel had been given a new name, Kosatka. It was later seen in the Baltic Sea near St. Petersburg.
The 82-meter Graceful is considered the second-largest yacht used by the Russian president, after the 140-meter Scheherazade. It had previously been spotted several times in Sochi when Putin was there. Its value is estimated at $100 million to $120 million.
In June 2022, the United States imposed sanctions on four yachts linked to the Russian president, including Graceful. A month earlier, Scheherazade was detained in Tuscany, Italy, where local investigators said the vessel’s owner was connected to the Russian authorities. Both yachts were also mentioned in investigations by Alexei Navalny’s team.