Sanctioned Russian Oligarch Alexey Mordashov Finds Safe Harbor for Yacht in South Africa
The country’s government will allow the steel magnate’s superyacht Nord to call in Cape Town, despite outcry from city’s mayor
South Africa will allow sanctioned Russian steel magnate Alexey Mordashov to pull his superyacht into Cape Town, making it the latest port stop on a controversy-laden voyage that shows the limits of Western sanctions.
The journey of the 465-foot Nord—from the Seychelles to Vladivostok in Russia, Hong Kong and now en route to Cape Town—has become a closely watched barometer for the effectiveness of U.S. and European sanctions on its owner, Mr. Mordashov, one of Russia’s richest men and the largest shareholder of Severstal PAO, among the world’s biggest steelmakers.
Mr. Mordashov is under U.S. and European Union sanctions put in place after Russia invaded Ukraine. Western capitals have accused a coterie of rich Russian business people of being close to President Vladimir Putin and being complicit in the invasion.
Mr. Mordashov has said he has never been close to politics and didn’t see how sanctioning him would help end the conflict.
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the Nord, which features two helicopter pads, a swimming pool and a cinema, set sail from the Seychelles to the far-eastern Russian port of Vladivostok, where it arrived in March. The move protected the yacht from the fate of Mr. Mordashov’s smaller boat, the 213-foot Lady M, which was seized by Italian authorities that same month.
In early October, the Nord left Vladivostok and anchored in the waters of Hong Kong, prompting a rebuke from the U.S. State Department. A State Department spokesman warned that allowing Mr. Mordashov’s yacht to moor near Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour called into question the Chinese-administered territory’s reputation as a financial center.
China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong in return accused the U.S. State Department of smearing Hong Kong’s business environment.
The Nord set sail again last week, crossing the Strait of Malacca on Monday. It is set to arrive in Cape Town on Nov. 9, according to publicly available maritime-tracking data.
Reports on the yacht’s destination prompted the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, to appeal to South Africa’s government on Monday to block the Nord from docking at the port. “South Africa has a moral duty to do what it can to protest unjust war, state terrorism, and the gross violation of human rights,” said Mr. Hill-Lewis, a member of the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party to the ruling African National Congress.
Cape Town, famed for its sandy beaches, Table Mountain and nearby vineyards, is home to several marinas and harbors that regularly host luxury yachts.
In written comments to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Hill-Lewis said Tuesday that he had received conflicting reports over whether Mr. Mordashov was on board the vessel.
“I believe Mr. Mordashov…is seeking safe harbor for his assets and potentially himself,” Mr. Hill-Lewis said. He said he was concerned his city could become “a new favorite destination for Russians fleeing sanctions in the rest of the world.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Mordashov said he isn’t on the ship and remains in Moscow. She declined to comment on whether he plans to visit South Africa in the near future.
The government of South Africa, whose ruling party has fostered close ties with Russia dating back to the Soviet Union’s support of the ANC’s struggle against apartheid, said the vessel would be allowed to dock in South African waters. Vincent Magwenya, spokesman for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, said there was no reason to block the yacht or Mr. Mordashov from entering South Africa.
“South Africa has no legal obligation to abide by the sanctions that the U.S. and the EU have decided to impose within specific jurisdictions,” Mr. Magwenya said. “For as long as individuals abide by our immigration laws we have no reason to prevent their entry into South Africa.”
Mr. Ramaphosa has tried hard not to get caught up in the intensifying confrontation between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine. South Africa isn’t participating in Western sanctions and has abstained in United Nations votes on the invasion. It has called for U.N.-led peace talks to end the fighting.
Luxury-yacht experts say the Nord’s ocean-spanning travels highlight another dilemma faced by their sanctioned owners: The world has few ports able to maintain yachts of the Nord’s size, and those are mostly in Europe, where they would quickly be seized.
“As soon as you stop maintaining them, they fall into disrepair, and the cost of getting it out of disrepair is astronomical,” said James Jaffa, a partner at a U.K.-based law firm that advises clients on superyachts.