Crew on Seized $700 Million Megayacht Use Fire Hoses, Drones to Keep Journalists Away

Scheherazade is one of the biggest superyachts in the world and is believed to be the biggest in Russian President Vladimir Putin's personal fleet, though the paper owner is Eduard Khudainatov. It was delivered by Lurssen in 2020 at a reported cost of $700 million, and it's believed to be so incredibly luxurious that even some of the bathroom fixtures or even screws that hold stuff together are plated in real gold.

Scheherazade is also massive, with a total length of 140 meters (459 feet), which classifies it as a megayacht. When Italian authorities announced that they had seized it in the Marina di Carrara in May 2022, it was widely assumed that this would prove some sort of turning point in Putin's perspective on the ongoing war.

It did not. Moreover, it didn't seem like the seizure hindered the activity of Scheherazade all the much, with the notable exception that it was no longer allowed to sail away.

Today, it's still bustling with activity, as a partial refit started on it shortly after the arrest, as the management company obtained a waiver from sanctions – initially with the vessel in dry dock and then with it out to water. Right now, crew onboard are working on a beach club extension, which will bring the total length to 142 meters (466 feet).

Whatever goal sanctions were meant to achieve, they're falling short of it if Scheherazade is anything to go by. The megayacht is undergoing a refit on the owner's money, but while the Italian taxpayer is paying for its docking fees.

A crew from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty set out to get closer to the vessel in a bid to get to the bottom of how all this was possible. But instead of clues or close-up footage of the megayacht, they got fire hoses and drone surveillance, as the crew onboard were clearly determined to keep all cameras away.

At some point, the Italian Finance Police (which seized the vessel) and the local police were on site after receiving calls from the crew. Officers determined that the journalists had a right to film there and departed without making any arrests.

As the journalists see it, this proves – or, at the very least, strongly indicates – that there's something fishy happening. No superyacht crew member would act this way if there wasn't. They cite Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) report from early 2022, saying that Scheherazade is crewed by officers from the FSO (Federal Protective Service, the Presidential security agency).

If that's still the case, it would make sense for them to want to block anyone from getting too close to the megayacht to take pictures, just like it would explain the extra effort that went into covering every surface that would allow a look inside or at the work being done.