Russian oligarch begs EU to return superyacht seized over war in Ukraine

A Russian oligarch has pleaded with the EU to return a superyacht that was once in the middle of Britain's biggest-ever divorce settlement between him and his ex-wife.

Farkhad Akhmedov, 66, has filed legal papers in Brussels asking for sanctions placed on him over the war in Ukraine to be lifted so he can get back the £225 million ($281 million) superyacht MV Luna, which is currently behind held by Germany, Daily Mail reports.

It is not the first time the yacht - which measures 377ft (about 115 metres) and has two helipads, a swimming pool, and its own mini submarine - has been contested, with Akhmedov's ex-wife Tatiana trying to seize it in 2018 to pay off part of a huge divorce bill.

She had been awarded £453 million ($566 million) by a judge at the High Court in 2016 - the UK's largest ever settlement at the time - and managed to get the yacht impounded in Dubai as part-payment, though the bid eventually failed.

MV Luna is currently in Hamburg, with German authorities refusing to release it to Mr Akhmedov because of EU sanctions on him over his links to the Russian state.

The EU argues that Mr Akhmedov - who made his £1billion ($1.25 billion) fortune via shares in a Siberian gas company - benefits from the Russian government, while also providing revenue for Putin to continue his war.

But legal papers filed on behalf of Mr Akhmedov on Friday last week (June 3), say he is 'no longer involved in the energy sector... and has not been for several years.'

They admit he is involved in local Russian politics, but add that he has never held a political position or been a member of a party 'in Russia or elsewhere.

Akhmedov’s legal team said he was 'not close to the Kremlin at all and has never been part of the circle surrounding President Vladimir Putin', according to copies of the filing seen by The Times.

Lawyers argue that Akhmedov is in fact involved in a legal dispute with Russia's biggest gas supplier, Gazprom, and has been for several years.

Akhmedov got his start in business selling furs on the London Commodities Exchange before swapping to the energy industry - founding Tansley Trading which sold equipment to the gas industry in 1987.

Six years later, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mr Akhmedov was among a clutch of Russian businessmen to capitalise on the privatisation of Russia's former state assets by buying up shares in Siberian gas firm Nortgas.

In 1998, two years before Putin took power, he bought out another major investor and became the majority shareholder - before offloading his assets in 2012 for just over £1 billion ($1.25 billion).

In 2017, a judge ordered him to hand over around 40 per cent of his wealth to his ex-wife - or a total sum of around £453million.

Akhmedov refused to pay, saying the couple had already been divorced in Russia several years earlier and the UK courts had no jurisdiction.

That sparked a five-year legal fight in which Tatiana assembled teams of specialists - including former members of the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service - to go after and seize assets she said should belong to her, including MV Luna.

At one point the vessel - which was originally built for Roman Abramovich before Mr Akhmedov bought it in 2014 - was seized at a port in Dubai.

Assets separately seized had included the yacht's £5 million ($6.25 million) Eurocopter and its £1.5 million ($1.87 million) Torpedo speed boat, customised with a 1965 Ferrari GTO steering wheel.

A £40million global express jet had also been taken.

In May last year, Tatiana's representatives announced that a court in the British Marshall Islands, which are in the central Pacific Ocean, had issued an order giving them the right to seize the super yacht from Mr Akhmedov.

But just a week later, the same court ruled that it had no power to enforce the order because only a court in Dubai, where the Luna is currently docked, could enforce a change of ownership.

Then, in July, the couple announced they had settled the dispute with Tatiana agreeing to take a £100 million ($125 million) cash payment and £50 million ($62.5 million) in artwork - less than a third of what she was awarded by the court.

The actual payout was even less, because Ms Akhmedova also had to pay £74.5 million ($93.1 million) to her financial backers, Burford Capital, over the failed asset hunt.