Putin's Yacht Graceful Spotted Off Danish Coast Heading to Istanbul

The yacht Graceful, associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was spotted on Monday, 29 June, in Danish coastal waters. The vessel had disappeared from radar since August 2022 and is sailing towards Istanbul under escort by a Russian destroyer and patrol ship.

The yacht Graceful, associated with Vladimir Putin, reappeared on radar on Monday, 29 June, in Danish coastal waters. Danish broadcaster DR reported on the sailing, citing data from the vessel monitoring service MarineTraffic. According to Russia's independent investigative media Agentstvo, Istanbul is listed as the ship's destination.

Escort and Route

Graceful is sailing alongside the Russian destroyer and patrol ship Voivode. Photos taken from shore confirm the vessel's identity, and the convoy is also visible in satellite imagery, DR reported. According to the independent outlet, the vessel disappeared from radar on 29 August 2022, shortly after Russia switched off the ship's automatic identification system (AIS) transponder.

Previous Sightings

In October 2022, Forbes reported that Graceful was spotted off the Estonian coast, heading towards St. Petersburg. Before that, the vessel had been in Kaliningrad, where it was transported from Germany before the start of the war. According to journalists, the ship received a new name, Kosatka, and was later seen in the Baltic Sea near St. Petersburg.

Sanctions and Value

The 82-metre Graceful is considered the second-largest among vessels associated with the Russian president, outranked only by the 140-metre Scheherazade. The vessel's value is estimated at between $100-120 million according to various sources. In June 2022, the US imposed sanctions on four yachts associated with Putin, including Graceful. A month earlier, Scheherazade was seized in Italy's Tuscany region, with local investigators finding that the vessel's owner had ties to Russian authorities. Both ships had previously appeared in investigations by Aleksei Navalny's team.