Photo: Instagram / Oleg Tinkov
Russian oligarchs are playing a cat-and-mouse game with international authorities, where the mouse is shaped like a megayacht with the most incredible luxury amenities and a price tag to match. Oleg Tinkov says he’s not among them, even though the “disappearance” of La Datcha seems to contradict him.
La Datcha is a $100 million vessel from Damen Shipyards’ SeaXplorer series, launched in 2020 and delivered later that same year. It is a very elegant and luxurious superyacht, but at the same time, it’s a most competent and impressive explorer, holding the title of the first privately-owned icebreaker superyacht in the world. The owner is the above-mentioned Oleg Tinkov, a Russian banker worth $9.4 billion just last year.
Today, his net worth is said to be in the millions, and he’s in trouble from all sides. Russia has disowned him (or so he tells the New York Times) after he criticized the ongoing war in Ukraine on social media, while the U.S., where he held citizenship until 2013, is after him for fraud. The UK included him on the sanctions list, so whatever money he still has, he can’t use.
Tinkov says he’s not speaking out against the Kremlin because he hopes the sanctions against him will be lifted, but because his health issues (he has leukemia and has developed cell-stem transplant complications) have made him realize he didn’t “want to die with these billions.” He makes an impassioned argument, as the Instagram post below can attest.
But, while Tinkov insists Putin and his allies put pressure on his Tinkoff bank to oust him for peanuts, while threatening him personally, his most prized assets have gone dark. La Datcha, last pinged in Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California Sur, Mexico, has been “out of range” for days on AIS tracking websites. His $63 million 2018 Dassault Falcon 8X M-TINK jet also went dark in March this year, when it last flew out of Moscow, destination Zurich.
If one is disinclined to believe in coincidences, one could conclude that this is Tinkov’s way of hiding both assets. After all, this wouldn’t be the first superyacht to “disappear” in the hope of avoiding sanctions.
As a very new and ultra-modern explorer, La Datcha has a 40-day autonomy at sea, which means it can go without a port call for this stretch. The 252-foot (77-meter) superyacht also has an Ice Class hull and is IMO Polar Code compliant. It offers accommodation for 12 guests and 35 staff, and amenities like two certified, operational helicopters with helipad and hangar, two beach lander tenders, two expedition RIBs, two snow scooters, a three-person submarine, and the full laundry list: gym, wellness and spa, pools, a treatment room, and Observation Lounge.
Today, his net worth is said to be in the millions, and he’s in trouble from all sides. Russia has disowned him (or so he tells the New York Times) after he criticized the ongoing war in Ukraine on social media, while the U.S., where he held citizenship until 2013, is after him for fraud. The UK included him on the sanctions list, so whatever money he still has, he can’t use.
Tinkov says he’s not speaking out against the Kremlin because he hopes the sanctions against him will be lifted, but because his health issues (he has leukemia and has developed cell-stem transplant complications) have made him realize he didn’t “want to die with these billions.” He makes an impassioned argument, as the Instagram post below can attest.
But, while Tinkov insists Putin and his allies put pressure on his Tinkoff bank to oust him for peanuts, while threatening him personally, his most prized assets have gone dark. La Datcha, last pinged in Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California Sur, Mexico, has been “out of range” for days on AIS tracking websites. His $63 million 2018 Dassault Falcon 8X M-TINK jet also went dark in March this year, when it last flew out of Moscow, destination Zurich.
If one is disinclined to believe in coincidences, one could conclude that this is Tinkov’s way of hiding both assets. After all, this wouldn’t be the first superyacht to “disappear” in the hope of avoiding sanctions.
As a very new and ultra-modern explorer, La Datcha has a 40-day autonomy at sea, which means it can go without a port call for this stretch. The 252-foot (77-meter) superyacht also has an Ice Class hull and is IMO Polar Code compliant. It offers accommodation for 12 guests and 35 staff, and amenities like two certified, operational helicopters with helipad and hangar, two beach lander tenders, two expedition RIBs, two snow scooters, a three-person submarine, and the full laundry list: gym, wellness and spa, pools, a treatment room, and Observation Lounge.
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