Oligarchs don’t just love their superyachts — they also use them to cement their status among Russia’s elite

Oligarchs don’t just love their superyachts — they also use them to cement their status among Russia’s elite

In recent weeks, the West has seized belonging to Russian oligarchs as part of wide-ranging sanctions aimed at pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop his invasion of Ukraine. Private jets and luxury properties have been seized, too. But it's the superyachts worth hundreds of millions of dollars that have captured the public's attention. "You have to have a yacht, otherwise you're not an oligarch," Anders Åslund, an economist and author of "Russia's Crony Capitalism," told Insider. "It's a very status-conscious group." , , and are among the Russian oligarchs who have had their vessels detained. Of the world's yachts measuring longer than 131 feet, US clients own roughly 23% and Russians own about 9%, according to a . US and Russian clients own a roughly equal number of 131-foot-plus superyachts built in the past decade, however, according to the SuperYachtTimes report. Russian-owned yachts average roughly 200 feet in length, which is longer than vessels owned by people from the UK, France, Italy, and Germany, per the SuperYacht Times report. The size and value of the boats function as a sort of "who's who" of Russia's political elite, experts said. Åslund said the richest clients, like Putin, have yachts worth