- [Narrator] Solaris, Galactica Super Nova,
and the Flying Fox.
These multimillion dollar superyachts
in this idyllic Turkish port
are linked to Russian oligarchs.
While several vessels have been seized by the US and the EU,
tracking experts say these yachts are in Turkey
because the country isn't imposing sanctions on them,
and intelligence analysts say the boats are taking measures
to slip off the radar.
- They were turning off their tracking systems
so it also became sort of an international hunt.
- [Narrator] This former CIA officer
and other internet sleuths have made it their mission
to track them down.
- These boats can't stay out forever, right?
- [Narrator] So as authorities around the world
are chasing down the sanctioned assets,
here's how intelligence analysts
are using vessel tracking data, satellite images,
and on the ground sources to help find them.
In early February, just before Russia invaded Ukraine,
some superyachts linked to Russian oligarchs
were docked in Barcelona, Spain.
Although definitions vary,
marine experts say superyachts
are usually over 80 feet long,
while megayachts can span over 200 feet.
- You could go down to the Port of Barcelona
and see really a dozen or so, at least,
super and megayachts.
Not all of them were Russian, of course,
but a lot of them were.
- [Narrator] That's Alex Finley, a former CIA officer.
She began monitoring oligarch's yachts
while researching for a novel,
even before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
- I would go down to sort of check the status of everything
and then very quickly, as the invasion started,
we started seeing all of these yachts take off
very quickly from here.
- [Narrator] That includes Solaris, a 460 foot megayacht
owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
While it was in Spain,
it could have been seized under international sanctions.
- I was watching her regularly to see when she might flee.
Just before sanctions came down on Roman Abramovich,
about 36 hours before those sanctions were announced,
Solaris did in fact leave Barcelona.
- [Narrator] To try to find out where the yacht went,
Finley and other open source analysts
use a tool called MarineTraffic.
It collects tracking information from ships and boats
from all over the globe using a system called AIS.
That works by collecting a transponder signal
that's represented by this yellow line here.
Data show on March 8th, Solaris set off from Barcelona,
traveled over a thousand nautical miles,
and four days later, arrived off the coast of Montenegro.
Tracking information later pinged its location in Turkey.
Other vessels owned by sanctioned oligarchs
made similar journeys but were harder to track.
That's because their AIS signals
stopped reporting a live location.
One of them is Galactica Super Nova.
The vessel is owned by Vagit Alekperov.
That's according to the website Superyacht Fan
and a former crew member
who spoke to "The Wall Street Journal."
The Galactica Super Nova also ended up in Montenegro
after leaving from Barcelona,
but then, its tracking signal disappeared from the site,
so analysts had to look elsewhere for information
on its whereabouts.
In these cases, they turned to a low tech tool,
eyewitness accounts.
Boat captains like Emrah Akkoyun in Gocek, Turkey,
can notice new arrivals.
(Emrah speaks Turkish)
Intelligence analysts that track open source data
say that firsthand sources,
including local fishermen and Turkish boat operators,
can also help them monitor the yachts.
- Somebody in Turkey can say,
"Hey, we just spotted this particular yacht,"
and they can send you a photo
and you have verification that those things are there.
- [Narrator] Locals in Gocek have been sharing pictures
on social media and have proactively sent information
to internet sleuths.
Both Galactica Super Nova and Solaris have been spotted here
in this Turkish port by eyewitnesses
who spoke to "The Wall Street Journal."
Intelligence analysts say the country
has allowed sanctioned vessels
to have safe haven in its ports.
Turkey is the only NATO member
to have not imposed financial sanctions
on Russian oligarchs.
Signaling instead that it wanted
to increase cooperation with Russia.
On the ground, residents say
there has been a noticeable surge
of Russian-linked superyachts in the area
since the conflict began.
(Kenan speaks Turkish)
Some of these yachts are also just too big to hide
from the eyes in the sky.
Satellites.
Take the Flying Fox,
which was once the largest yacht available
for public charter.
It can be seen here in satellite imagery.
The vessel is linked to Russian oligarch Dmitry Kamenshchik,
according to the Superyacht Fan base website.
Flying Fox was added to the sanctions list
as blocked property by the US in June.
That essentially means it can be seized.
Its management company, Imperial Yachts,
was also sanctioned by the same authorities.
Just a few months before sanctions were placed on the vessel
in late April, it traveled away from the coast of Haiti.
It sailed across the Atlantic Ocean
before arriving in Turkey.
The journey was recorded by AIS data
and its location was corroborated by satellite imagery.
Satellites can virtually help locate big objects
anywhere in the world.
- With commercial satellite,
you can visually see from above,
so if you get a hint or a clue
that a yacht might be in a certain place,
you can actually look it up
with commercial satellite imagery to to verify that.
- [Narrator] Those satellite photos
have also helped analysts find oligarch-linked boats
in the Middle East
where some vessels appear to have migrated
during the winter.
"The Wall Street Journal" reached out to Abramovich
about the movements of his yacht
but didn't receive a response.
Kamenshchik and Alekperov couldn't be reached.
Imperial Yachts didn't respond to a request for comment
and neither did Turkey and Montenegro.
As internet sleuths bring more attention
to the vessels' movements,
authorities are also deploying new resources
to track them down.
In the US, the Department of Justice
announced an initiative called KleptoCapture
to both search for and seize the assets.
- The task force is dedicated to enforcing the sanctions,
export restrictions, and economic countermeasures
that the United States has imposed,
along with its international allies and partners,
in response to this unprovoked military invasion.
- [Narrator] That's in addition
to a transatlantic task force led by the EU Commission
and other allied countries.
But once the yachts, like this one in Spain, are seized,
it's just the beginning of a complex process.
Namely the cost of maintaining them.
Analysts say costs for another impounded yacht,
this one in the US,
is estimated to be around $10 million a year.
Authorities are often paying the bill
to prevent the boats from losing their value.
The US has said it would look to sell the seized yachts.
However, it can be a long and drawn out process,
leaving the fate of many of these vessels up in the air.