A superyacht belonging to Russia’s largest steel pipe manufacturer docked in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar on Monday, it was then detained.
The owner, Dmitry Pumpyansky, is subject to a travel ban and an asset freeze instruction
In a statement, the Gibraltar government stated that the Axioma arrived at port after asking permission and was “confirmed to have been the subject of an arrest by a leading international banking institution in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar”.
A spokesperson for No.6 Convent Place, the headquarters of Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar said:
“The Captain of the Port today granted permission, after consultation with the Chief Minister as minister with responsibility for sanctions, for the entry into BGTW of a vessel that was confirmed to be the subject of an arrest action by a leading international bank in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar.
Given the ultimate beneficial ownership of the vessel, permission would not normally have been granted for the vessel to enter BGTW. However, this has been exceptionally allowed in the interests of creditors with proper claims against the vessel and who seek the assistance of the Admiralty jurisdiction of the Supreme court to enforce such claims.”
It is understood that Gibraltar recently banned the entry into its waters of any vessel linked to Russia or sanctioned individuals in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis.
Cool, let ’em dock then seize the vessel.😀
Well done Gibraltar!
It did occur to me that the crew might have done it deliberately, given the Gibraltar government’s declared ban on sanctioned vessels. That would be really assuming…
Cheers CR
I wouldn’t be surprised, if I was part of the crew I wouldn’t want to be bobbin around the oggin with no where to go.
Sounds to me like the crew wanted to hand the boat over where there was rule of law and sunshine?
If they’re really luckly they’ll be held on the yacht and get to live the high life for a change. Hope they get to drink all the Bolly 😆
Cheers CR
If I was guessing I would say that they were told to take her to Russia and then were short of fuel….., maybe fancying not becoming embroiled in that mess?
They’ll be down the Mad Monk before you know it!!….. 😂
Good on gib, they did what the UK gov failed to achieve by dragging its feet for weeks before issuing the sanctions, long time after the US/EU.
Your predictable anti Govt rant. Did the Govt not have to get the legal framework in place first? I recall legal challenges were threatened
They are the government, they write the law, the framework was ready to be signed plus they could retrospectively apply it. Courts can only rule on rule of law, so could not rule against something the goverment put into law.
i am amazed how little you understand concerning the Law. Just because you are the Govt, doesn’t mean you just write a set of laws.
Otherwise you open the UK to challenges over international Law. the US was a bit easier as most of these OGs had little to none assets in the USA.
And why would a OGs have his private Yacht moored up the Thames. ???
and for every person pushing a Law there will be a better Lawyer un-picking it.
Or should we recover all money paid through the OGs to every person and reclaim it.
someone turns up on your door and asks you for the money you were paid, what are you going to say.
Of course the government can write the law and the law can say whatever it likes as long as it passes through the commons/lords. The required regulation was drafted several years ago and labour said they would support it. It could have been passed through the commons and lords in a day, in an emergency situation, as happened when all the powers were given to the government as part of covid. International law has no control over what the UK does in regards to local matters, it only applies when multiple countries are involved or where international waters are involved. Funny how 27 member states of EU and the US etc managed to pass law and put into power faster than the UK. Do some reading up on how laws are passed in the UK and the powers of the house of commons.
All these yachts should be sold and the proceeds given to the Ukrainian Government.
Agreed or perhaps the equivalent in SAM’s…
Yea. Should buy at least a couple S300 SAM systems. lol
We wanted a new Royal Yacht.
I can see Andrew having his parties on that …
Alas, Mummy won’t let him out to play anymore.
So we should spare a thought for hard working members of the No 10 staff, who also deserve to party there.
Of course a National Flagship should primarily be held in trust for big-industry lobbyists, rich party donors and friends of the Prime Minister, but surely at Christmas time the Cabinet Secretary, political consultants and a few other underpaid workers could be invited onboard as a gesture.
Drivel like this undermines the quality of discussion on this site
Could be a suitable candidate for the national flagship?
Yes, then we can use the £200m Boris wanted for that on Interim anti ship missiles, or a LNG gas carrier ship from S Korea.
different Budget, need to understand that,
It would be a sweet twist of irony if it were armed and handed to the Ukrainian Navy …. although I appreciate a luxury yacht probably doesn’t lend itself to becoming a combat ship very well! I like the thinking of re-using one of these impounded vessels as our National Flagship but then, would there be a heightened risk of a team of Wagner Group operatives trying to take it back? Appreciate the suggestion by some might be tongue-in-cheek, as is a my suggestion to arm them!
Star Trek teaches us how to deal with little green men: a self destruct facility. I don’t think a superyacht has a warp core to overload, but I’m sure a reasonable substitute could be found.
Alternatively we could return it as a remotely piloted possible suicide drone. Turkey will let a Russian yacht into the Black Sea, and giving the Russian navy no choice but to blow up their oligarch’s superyacht on the off chance it might be dangerous will give us a little ironic pleasure and plausible deniability at the same time. Not to mention a kickin’ YouTube vid.
Now there’s a thought, hand it over to the Ukrainians and ….. HMS Campbeltown anyone? Sail it at full speed into the submarine pens in Sevastopol!
Totally OTT, but I thougth it was funny:
You are toooooo bad Farouk!!!!!!😂 Love it!
Thats hillarious Farouk. If that did happen… long shot I know. Ok very very long shot. The Ukranians wouldnt pour vodka on him. Theyd just kill him. They are having great success decapitating the Russian general staff who wander to close to the combat zone.
Ah, allow me to explain the picture.
Jan 2019, Chicago Jussie Smollett a Gay Black actor claimed he had been attacked by 2 white Trump supporters at 2am who beat him up poured bleach over him and tied a noose around his neck.
This resulted in widespread condemnation regards race and homophobic hate by white people in the US. His cause was championed by those with a political and race axe to grind and then questions started to be asked, the Police couldn’t find any video evidence of his attackers despite it apparently taking place outside a subway (yup he was that hungry he left his penthouse apartment at 2 am in the middle of a Chicago winter for a sandwich) in a very affluent part of the city (meaning lots of CCTV cameras) Police then found he had lied and had paid 2 Nigerian men to pretend to beat him up in which to get a pay rise at work. Initially the police refused to press charges, but due to public pressure they had to, he was in court last week and jailed for 150 days, but released after a few days as he refused to eat claiming he was a victim. I was sent that picture last night and thought how apt it was regards the situation in the Ukraine:
This video sums up everything
He refused to eat…what no Subways in prison then…?
In all seriousness they released him because he refused to eat …WTF???
Maybe the Mafia could get out on the grounds the prison lasgane isnt likea mamma useda to make …or what about Putin maybe if he gets tried for war crimes he could be released if he refuses to eat as theres no KFC’s in Russia anymore…
Very Michael Jackson with the glove ,and he was good for a laugh as well Farouk
Ah thats where its gone, damn!
Crack the top coat Grey out and make his visit to Gib one too remember oh and paint a new Pennant Number on her
Excellent! Great to see words translated into actions.
We can’t undo the stripping of billions over the last 30 years by a corrupt/greedy few from ordinary Russians but instead let’s see these assets sold and the money put towards supporting Ukrainian refugees and rebuilding their country once all this is over.
Good. We can use these luxurious yachts to house Ukranian refugees. The refugees may as well live in luxury whilst fleeing Russian tyrany.
Well that’s Boris’s gin palace sorted!
We should be putting an international team together to activly track down the maritime assets of Putin’s favoured boys and confiscate them, then putting them up for auction with all proceeds going to help pay for the war in the Ukraine. The same could be true for all of the mansions scattered through-out Europe, the UK and North America.
It would put a few Billion towards supporting the Ukraine and I’m pretty sure that once Putin’s entourage start losing their luxury homes and yachts they will be putting presser on the main man to wined his neck in or hopefully help the axe fall on this neck
Serious question. Is there people who would actually buy the many big yachts that have been seized for a decent amount? Maybe maybe not.
Well if they were put up for auction they would find a buyer even if they were just going to scrap them and recycle them for parts but I am sure there would be a market for these floating gin palace’s. The same can be said for all of the Russian mansions scattered around the world. just look at the one in London that was attacked by squatters last week with over 100 rooms in the middle of London I’m sure we could find a buyer for that.
A quick refit of several tonnes of C4 below decks, remote navigation and a message along the lines of “poor oligarch seeks safety aboard victorious Russian warship” before sending her on her way ought to do the trick.
Singe the king of vain’s whatever
If we could aquire a few more of these Rich man’s toys, wouldn’t they look good for a Spithead Review then after Surface towed targets for either the RN or RAF a lot more realistic than a towed Scoop sledge
Is this inappropriate? Can’t we let Her Majesty have one. Repaint it, take out any tacky art and furniture etc. Might be a target mind you.
Good to see actions following words for a change!
We can’t undo 30 years of these crooks stripping the Russian economy of billions to pay for floating penis extensions but I’d like to see as many assets sold as possible with the money put towards helping Ukrainian refugees and rebuilding their country once this ghastly business is over.
You did read this was seized because of a bank not any govt action?
Bit off topic. I saw today that a pro Kremlin news source put Russian deaths at 9400 and injured at 14,000. It was then withdrawn quickly.
I’ve not had a chance to look into other sources. It was from channel 7 Australia news. I think.
Here’s the business insider mentioning it aswell.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/pro-kremlin-tabloid-nearly-10000-russian-troops-killed-ukraine-2022-3%3famp
Why did the idiot sail to Gibraltar ? or was it there before sanctions? and if so why didn’t he run for it soon as Russia invaded?
The crew are more than likely not Russian.
They are not Russian.
I guess they were to to sail for Russia
I suspect they wanted somewhere safe with rule of law. And decided to fill up with diesel there?
BBC has an article about one of the oligarchs who put his mansions and super yacht in trust. He rents the use from the trust and the beneficiaries are family not him. They can’t be seized.
mmm cant the trust be done for breaking sanctions- ?
Have to fairly SIMPLE to not realise this was going to Happen, may be a crew protest.
they are going to get very sick of sailing the same patches of sea.