SNEAKY F*ING RUSSIANS: TRACKING SANCTIONED SUPER-YACHTS

By Jeffrey Mader

Originally published March 16, 2022

Last week, Benjamin Strick Tweeted a little piece of satellite imagery from Planet. The imagery was less than a day old, and showed what appeared to be the super-yacht Nord anchored in the Seychelle Islands.

Nord is believed to be owned by Alexei Mordashov. Mordashov is one of hundreds of Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the Untied States and the European Union. As a result of the sanctions, Italian officials have already arrested Mordashov’s super-yacht Lady M. These arrests have led the oligarchs to scramble their prized yachts outside the reach of the sanctions, which is likely how Mordashov’s Nord ended up in the Seychelles.

Keep in mind, the Nord wasn’t exactly hiding; the super-yacht was still broadcasting its Automatic Identification System (AIS) beacon.

The AIS makes the Nord visible to authorities, other ships, and vessel tracking companies like MarineTraffic and VesselFinder. If the Nord really wanted to disappear, it would simply (albeit illegally) have switched off is AIS.

For instance, Galactica Super Nova, owned by Vagit Alekperov, turned their AIS off on March 2nd and disappeared from the view of authorities.

Even though the Nord hadn’t completely disappear like the Galactica, getting caught by Planet’s near-real-time imagery is still a good example of how OSINT can be used to track the yachts when they are evading authorities. Where a vessel turns off its tracking beacon, some basic OSINT techniques can help track the super-yachts as they attempt to sail to “safe” waters.

This article will first discuss using the free and paid features of MarineTraffic for tracking the super-yachts. The second part of the article will apply some traditional OSINT skills in an effort to characterize, if not identify, the missing vessels.

Introduction to Tracking Super-Yachts

As with any other project, the first step is always to do some background research. There is no shortage of articles on super-yachts believed to be owned by Russian oligarchs. Social media has also blown up with “yacht-watchers”. For instance, our favorite ex-CIA officer, Alex Finley, started the hashtag #YachtWatch; Putin is a Virus created a comprehensive graphic of the super-yachts and their current status; and, Russian Yachts even created “Klepto Bingo” so civilians in the Twittervers can play along at home!

In addition to news articles and the hobbyist accounts, you’ll want to collect some expert opinion. SuperYacht Times provides solid industry information; SuperYacht Fan is a hand-curated database of super-yacht information (the entire database can even be downloaded for a reasonable fee of $150); Finally, eSysman’s YouTube channel is an exceptional resource which eSysmen updates almost daily.

So, based on the background research, we have a list of sanctioned vessels from Putin is a Virus. Industry experts like eSysmen suggest the ships will likely sail to sanction-free harbors in Dubai, Seychelles, and Maldives. It has also been suggested that the yachts’ final destination might be Vladivostok. Vladivostok is a port city in eastern Russia and home to the Russian Pacific Fleet. Vladivostok is a safe harbor where the yachts can be mothballed until the sanctions are removed.

Scratching the Surface with MarineTraffic

MarineTraffic uses AIS radio and satellite to track maritime vessels globally in real and near-real-time. MarineTraffic has a free version that provides fairly robust features without requiring a login. MarineTraffic’s homepage is their “Live Map”. According to their website, the live map, “…enables you to move around the globe with ease and directly track down any vessel that may be of interest to you … You have the ability to zoom out and get a general overview of the world or to zoom in and get a more detailed view of a certain area of interest.”

Vessels are color coded on the Live Map and can be filtered for the type of vessel you are looking for. First click on the Filter icon in the upper left corner and then select the vessel type.

Next, you’ll want to search for a specific vessel to view its details and locations over the past 24 hours. For instance, if we want to know more about the yacht Titan, owned by Alexander Abramov, simply search for “Titan” in the upper right corner (vessels can also be searched using their IMO (International Maritime Organization) or MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity) numbers) and then click the “location” icon next the Titan. This will take you to the Titan’s current location on the Live Map as well as open up a details pane for Titan.

Once the Titan’s location and detail pane appear on the Live Map, click on Past Track in the details pane to show the ship’s location for the previous 24 hours. The detail pane also gives the vessel status; in this case the Titan is “underway” and traveling at 16.3kn (knots).

Tracking Multiple Vessels with MarineTraffic

To continually track a ship, or multiple ships, you’ll need to build a “fleet”. MarineTraffic does allow you to build a fleet in the free version, but you will need to create an account and login. That said, this is really where MarineTraffic’s paid features show value. MarineTrafic has three tiers of paid user accounts. All tiers offer monthly pricing and a seven-day free trial. It is well worth taking advantage of the free trial to decide which features are necessary for the type of work you are doing.

Creating a fleet is very intuitive. Start by clicking on the heart icon in upper left; click “Create Fleet”; give the fleet a name and select a color to identify the fleet; finally, search for and select the ships you want to include in your fleet.

One of the key features of the paid MarineTraffic account is the ability to track vessels via satellite. AIS systems are primarily terrestrial, which means the ships AIS is communicating with line-of-sight radio beacons. When a ship is out to sea, generally 10 to 20 miles from shore, the AIS’ radio cannot reach the beacons and begins communicating over satellite. Tracking a vessel via satellite is premium feature. MarineTraffic’s mid-tier account allows satellite tracking for one vessel and their top-tier account allows for ten vessels. There is also an option to add unlimited satellite tracking for a larger fee.

To turn on satellite tracking for your fleet, in a premium account: Click on the down arrow in the top right corner of the webpage, then My Fleets in the drop down. When your account pane opens up, toggle the “SAT Flex” on for the vessels you want to track via satellite.

For this demo, I’ve added ten vessels to my fleet. I also have a seven day free trial for a top-tier account, so I’ve turned on satellite tracking for all of the yachts. To view the fleet on the Live Map from the account menu, simply click “Show on Map”.

Alternatively, you can view your fleet on the Live Map by clicking on Live Map at the top, then clicking on the heart icon in the upper left corner to view your fleet.

Once your fleet is on the Live Map you can click on any of the ships to zoom in on their location. If we click on Nord, for instance, we can see that the yacht has not only departed the Seychelles, the Nord quickly cruised past the Maldives; even though, Port Male in Maldives is the Nord’s declared destination.

Zooming back out to the full Live Map, we can click on the other vessels in our fleet to look for other anomalies or indicators. The Solaris, for instance, departed Montenegro on March 14th. Rather than a declared destination, however, the ship is “Awaiting Orders”. Industry expert eSysman commented that he’s “never seen that… It’s like jumping in a cab and saying follow that car. You don’t really know where you’re going”.

Also, the Quantum Blue departed Monaco on March 3rd; crossed the Mediterranean; docked at Port Said; transited the Suez Canal; and is underway in the Red Sea. It is easy to assume the ship is headed for the relative safety of Dubai, Seychelles, or Maldives as so may of the sanctioned yachts have.

Searching for the Hidden Ships

Using MarineTraffic is an exciting way to track these yachts via their AIS. Tracking them after they’ve turned off their AIS, however, is far more difficult. The most effective way to find them, is “yacht-watchers”. Just like airplanes have “tail watchers” who sit outside of airports and take photographs of aircraft coming and going, maritime vessels have their fans too.

Yacht-watchers tend to be individuals who live near maritime ports and as a hobby they spend time documenting ships coming and going. They then post these photos to social media groups, web sites, or blogs. For instance, if the Quantum Blue had gone dark near Port Said, we might check the Port Said page of ShipSpotting.com to see if a yacht-watcher had spotted it.

Googling variations of “ship spotting”, and the location or vessel you are interested in, will likely return a community of ship spotters monitoring the area.

Social media is the next avenue for searching. Super-yachts are typically near luxurious vacation spots. That means there are likely tourists posting photos to social media. You might get lucky and confirm a missing ship in the background of one of those posts. The easiest way to get started here is to search for geo-tagged social media posts.

For instance, we know the Nord was near Eden Island in the Seychells, and from our research we know other sanctioned vessels may be there. A geo-located search of social media quickly returned a recent post from the L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa (across the small harbor from Eden Island) with the yacht Savannah in the background.

After searching social media for the “L’Escale Resort Marina & Spa” as well any hashtags or related key words, several recent social media posts of the Savannah at the marina were identified.

The yacht Savannah is not a sanctioned vessel, however, these posts show that is was docked next to the Hermitage, (which is sanctioned, and in our fleet) from late February to early March. When we check the Hermitage’s past track on MarineTraffic, we see that it departed Seychelles on March 3rd, consistent with these posts.

Unfortunately, this is no smoking gun. It does, however, illustrate the point that with enough tenacity and luck, a researcher might actually be able to identify and track a yacht after they have turned off their AIS.

OSINT Tip: Keep an Eye on the Yacht-Tenders

A yacht-tender is the name for the “modest” vessels designed to service yachts while at anchor. Yacht-tenders are used to shuttle people and supplies to and from shore. On larger yachts, the yacht-tender is stored on or inside the ship. The Nord, for instance carries the yacht-tender Nordic II inside the ship’s starboard hull.

Most super-yachts outfit their yacht-tenders with an AIS system for safety, security and tracking reasons. The Nordic II, for instance, is outfitted with AIS and can be tracked via MarineTraffic.

On March 10th, the Nordic II made three trips from where the Nord was at anchor to Eden Island, Seychelles. Tracking a yacht-tender can provide indicators of passenger pickup and drop off, crew changes, or supply runs. While tracking the yacht-tender’s schedule, you might pivot to social media and dig for indicators of who might be coming or going from the ship. When an area is small enough, like the Seychelles, and serviced by only one airport, you might try to correlate any inbound and outbound private aircraft for additional insights.

Dedication:

This article is dedicated to the Ukrainian hero, Taras Ostapchuk.

Two days after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, 55-year-old, Taras Ostapchuk was aboard the Lady Anastasia watching the news. After witnessing a video of a Russian helicopter attacking a building in Kyiv, he walked to the engine room, opened several valves and partially sunk the $7.7 million luxury yacht.

As it turns out, Lady Anastasia is owned by the Russian weapons magnate Alexander Mijeev. Ostapchuk said “My boss is a criminal who sells weapons that kill the Ukrainian people.” Ostapchuk was subsequently arrested. At his arraignment, he told the magistrate he, “had no regrets” and “would do it again”.

The partially submerged Lady Anastasia was arrested by authorities on March 15th. Ostapchuk was released and has since returned home to Ukraine.