Paranoid Vladimir Putin sends his superyacht to safety in Arctic amid panic over Ukrainian drone attacks

Vladimir Putin’s £100million superyacht is fleeing Europe to the Arctic amid panic that it could be hit by Ukrainian drone strikes.

The 82m Graceful, believed to belong to the Russian President, is travelling along the coast of Norway and is set to reach the Russian port of Murmansk, according to maritime data.

The ship is being guarded by two Russian naval vessels and is being watched by Nato.

The yacht has been seen sailing with anti-drone nets covering the decks, according to the Telegraph.

TRENDING

Stories

Videos

Your Say

The superyacht is being followed by an armed Severomorsk, the Russian I-class destroyer, as well as a Russian salvage and patrol ship.

A senior Nato source confirmed the ship is being monitored and has been followed by German and Danish Navy patrol ships as it travelled through the Baltic Sea.

The superyacht is equipped with both saltwater and freshwater pools, a helipad, a gym, and secure communications systems.

Mr Putin is understood to have taken various trips on the vessel, including a five-year-old trip in the Black Sea with Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, US government filings confirm.

Days before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the ship was relocated from the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, to the Russian port of Kaliningrad.

The US designated Mr Putin’s yacht as a blocked property four months after the invasion.

The vessel was forced to rename to the Kosatka, meaning “Killer Whale” in Russian.

The ship had not been seen until it resurfaced last week to hide away from Ukrainian strikes.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

• Russian drones spy on RAF bases and Britain's nuclear weapons
• Kyiv rocked by deadly Russian strikes after Volodymyr Zelensky’s warning of ‘massive’ attack
• https://www.gbnews.com/news/world/vladimir-putin-shuts-border-crossings-russia-conscripts-fight-ukraine

Its automatic identification system broadcast its journey through the Dansh strait before the system went dark upon entering the North Sea last Monday.

John Foreman, Britain’s defence attaché to Moscow until 2022, told the Telegraph: “They don’t want to take any chances. Moving it further away from the Ukrainians after they pummelled Kronstadt.”

Last week saw Ukrainian long-range drones attack the Russian naval base of Kronstadt, just 12 miles away from St Petersburg.

Emma Salisbury, a naval expert and contributor to the strategic defence review, said the warships shadowing the superyacht showed Mr Putin was moving into “protection overkill” as he was “not willing to risk the yacht being interdicted” by Nato ships.

She added: “That reads to me that the Kremlin is now more worried about enforcement.

“Putin doesn’t want the PR nightmare of having his yacht interdicted by us or sunk by the Ukrainians.”

The paranoid president has increased the number of federal protective service staff guarding him and his family to 812.

The movement of Mr Putin’s yacht comes after the UK’s first standalone seizure of a sanctioned Russian vessel, the Smyrtos.

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter