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Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US and its allies have used financial sanctions to try and punish President Vladimir Putin and his oligarch cronies.

The US government has already managed to seize dozens of multimillion-dollar megayachts, which is leaving all the yet-to-be-sanctioned business tycoons in a tizzy.

As a result, luxury vessels have been spotted desperately fleeing across the world’s oceans to marinas that they hope will keep them safe from seizure.

Fortune reported that Bloomberg has been tracking these trips alongside Spire Global Inc., an analytics firm that uses nanosatellites to collect data:

“In the past few months, we’ve seen the yachts of sanctioned Russian oligarchs travel to places they historically haven’t gone and chart more miles than they typically do,” said Simão Oliveira, a Spire web and application developer who built the yacht tracker.

The $325 million Amadea megayacht (seen above), allegedly belonging to billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, set sail on an 18-day journey from the Caribbean to Fiji, which likely ran up a fuel bill of around $500 000 (around R8 million).

That’s an expensive getaway.

According to Spire’s analysis, the trip would have included 8 358 nautical miles since February 24, nearly half of the total miles it’s travelled in the past year.

The Amadea, which features a helipad, mosaic-tiled pool, and lobster tank, spent Christmas at the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten, passed through the Panama Canal in March, anchored briefly at a port in Manzanillo, Mexico, and then made a beeline for Fiji.

That’s when the sanction hit:

Fiji’s High Court this week gave the green light for U.S. and local authorities to seize the Amadea. Counsel representing the ship’s registered owner, Millemarin Investments Ltd., lost an appeal to stay the order, and says the ship is owned by another Russian tycoon—not gold billionaire Kerimov as the U.S. government claims. Kerimov, worth about $15.8 billion, was sanctioned by the U.K. and the European Union in March for his ties to Putin. He was on the U.S. sanctions list in 2018.

Then there’s the sanction-listed Russian aluminium billionaire with ties to Putin, Oleg Deripaska, and his $65 million yacht, Clio.

Clio racked up the second-most miles travelled since the invasion of Ukraine with trips totalling 7 374 nautical miles. It can carry 250 000 litres of fuel, with a full tank costing close to $340 000 (around R5,5 million).

The Nord, a $500 million floating palace that features two helipads, a cinema, and 20 luxury cabins, has also tried to make an expensive escape.

Allegedly owned by sanctioned Russian steel billionaire Alexey Mordashov, the Nord has logged 6 701 nautical miles in an effort to get back home to Russia’s Vladivostok port.

The yacht carries 345 000 litres of fuel, and a full tank for a long trip would cost about $465 000 (around R7,5 million).

Yeah, well, running from the law should never come cheap.

You can track those yachts as they move around the globe here.

[source:fortune]