The tender “Alfa Fish”, which belongs to Russian billionaire businessman Andrey Guryev.
COLE BAY--The tender Alfa Fish, which belongs to the 82-metre Alfa Nero yacht owned by Russian billionaire businessman Andrey Guryev, has been put in storage at Bobby's Mega Yard in Cole Bay for an indefinite period.
It is unclear whether local authorities and the Dutch Government in The Hague are aware that the vessel is held in storage in Dutch territory.
On March 9, the European Union added 14 more Russian businesspeople with close links to the Kremlin and 146 lawmakers to its sanctions list. Among the leading figures the EU said were “providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation” was Andrey Guryev, known close associate of Vladimir Putin.
Guryev is the founder and largest shareholder of PhosAgro, Europe's biggest manufacturer of phosphate fertilizers. The Moscow-based company makes ammonia, nitrogen-based fertilizers and livestock feed phosphates for agricultural producers in more than 100 countries.
As of March 2022, Guryev’s net worth is estimated at US $4.8 billion. He acquired his wealth in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, obtaining previously state-owned assets at undervalued prices.
Guryev bought the luxury yacht Alfa Nero for $120 million in 2014 and had her refitted in 2021. The yacht has annual running cost of $6-12 million. The weekly charter price lies between $730,000 and $940,000, depending on the season.
Alfa Nero carries the flag of the British Cayman Islands, and that also applies to the tender Alfa Fish. According to a trusted source, Alfa Fish is registered as a vessel in its own right, sailing under the British flag.
The UK Government also placed Guryev on its sanctions list on Wednesday. Announcing “sweeping new sanctions to starve Putin's war machine,” the British Foreign Secretary stated: “Our latest wave of measures will bring an end to the UK’s imports of Russian energy and sanction yet more individuals and businesses, decimating Putin’s war machine. Together with our allies, we are showing the Russian elite that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities committed on Putin’s orders. We will not rest until Ukraine prevails.”
At Thursday’s meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers, the Foreign Secretary called for further collective action, including G7 unity in imposing further coordinated waves of sanctions against the Russian economy and elites around Putin until Russia withdraws its troops and ends its brutal campaign of aggression against Ukraine once and for all.
The British Foreign Secretary reiterated that Russian ships are banned from UK ports. Sailing British waters carries the risk of seizure.
