Hello #YachtWatch -ers! Time for a quick summary of some news tidbits. First up: I got to see CRESCENT again. She hasn’t moved from Port Tarraco in Tarragona, Spain. And apparently her crew has not moved either. 1/
Indeed, the crew were hard at work keeping the yacht sparkling clean. I mean, look at that reflection. 2/
It remains unclear who, if anyone, is paying this crew for their hard work. 3/
Moving on: German authorities have managed to trace ownership of DILBAR to Alisher Usmanov’s sister (so clever, Alisher). So she is now sanctioned too. Best brother ever! sueddeutsche.de/politik/sankti… 4/
Next up: Roman Abramovich had yet another yacht [insert massive eye roll gif]. AQUAMARINE, oddly, changed owners the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Probably just a coincidence. dutchnews.nl/news/2022/04/r… 5/
AMADEA made it to Fiji. I am eagerly awaiting reports of whether or not she gets serviced there in order to continue her journey to Vladivostok to keep NORD company. 6/
A number of other yachts have disappeared. That is, they haven’t pinged in a long time. However, it’s kind of hard to hide a 100m yacht. Remember Yacht A? She disappeared in the Indian Ocean for a few weeks before a #YachtWatch follower spotted her in the UAE. 7/
Petr Bystrom, a member of Germany's AfD party, allegedly caught on tape by Czech intel as he received money from the guy running the Voice of Europe Russian influence operation. 1/ spiegel.de/politik/deutsc…
Bystrom can apparently be heard on the recording counting money and then asking that several staffers at the European Parliament receive payments too. Czech intel believes the op gave around 500,000 euros to pro-Kremlin politicians/staff in the EU. 2/
According to der Spiegel: The authorities in Belgium are now also interested in the case. The intelligence services have "confirmed the existence of pro-Russian interference networks with activities in several European countries and also here in Belgium," said the Belgian PM. 3/
Putin's trip to UAE last week was part of this. Dubai is a massive washing machine for Russian cash. Putin had to check in on that; he needs that cash to keep paying his proxies in Europe and the US (influencers, activists, politicians, journalists, etc.). 1/
Look at this, in Dubai, 67 villas sold in two minutes. And no name is necessary. It's all anonymous. That sound you hear? It's a washing machine! 2/ lefigaro.fr/conso/la-semai…
Why does Putin need this cash? He is running a massive network of influencers in the West, to ensure his ideas take root and prevail. I've written extensively about this, so I'll just highlight a few operations here. See this thread for some basics: 3/
Let's go! Finally, the US has launched a civil forfeiture complaint against AMADEA. #YachtWatch
The complaint alleges money laundering and sanctions evasion.
The complaint also goes after IMPERIAL YACHTS and its CEO, Yevgeny KOCHMAN, for helping Russian oligarchs set up shell companies and hide their ownership of their yachts. Here is some background:
Also be sure to read this from @PekingMike @gaia_pianigiani and @julianbarnes: The Middlemen Helping Russian Oligarchs Get Superyachts and Villas (also: give us back headlines!!!) nytimes.com/2022/06/01/wor…
Periodic reminder that the "corruption" narrative Republicans are trying to pin on Hunter Biden (and all the other Bidens somehow) was likely fully invented by Russian intelligence and given to a Ukrainian oligarch to feed to Rudy Giuliani.
Here is some background, from @DNI, which found that Putin directed a disinformation campaign to link Biden to corruption in Ukraine and used Russian intel proxies to push the narrative with US media, high-profile advisers to Trump, and others. documentcloud.org/documents/2051…
Giuliani met with Derkach. He also met with Pavel Fuks (not mentioned in this report but believed to be a Russian intel proxy). The DNI report also mentions Konstantin Kilimnik, Paul Manafort's buddy.
It's probably all just a coincidence, though, right?
G. Kline Preston IV, listed here as 1 of 2 Americans who went to observe the sham election in occupied Ukr, is connected to convicted Russian spy Maria Butina. He introduced Russian Alexander Torshin to the NRA, which went on to give $30 million to Trump's campaign. 1/
Kline Preston the Fourth also served as an attorney for the Republican Party in Michigan, where he helped represent a case of alleged voter fraud there (as part of the effort to overturn the 2020 election) cc: @emptywheel 2/ supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/2…
And for a Tennessee attorney, Kline Preston 4 seems to know a lot about Russian law, having written several books on the subject, including "Reporter of all Russian Appellate Copyright Cases" (volumes 1 & 2) and "The Civil Code of the Russian Federation" 3/
Some great details in this @politico piece from @ErinBanco, including how Prigozhin and Wagner are playing integral roles in Putin's information warfare and how this will challenge US and European national security for years to come. 1/ politico.com/news/2023/02/1…
As the article notes, Prigozhin's network (which includes much more than just Wagner) is playing a huge role in influence operations, combining covert and overt actions to achieve Russian objectives. 2/
Politico's piece ties Prigozhin and Wagner directly to the Kremlin. 3/