(Corrects spelling of Alekperov, Sukhoruchkin).

Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) – Two Russians have resigned from the Dutch luxury yacht manufacturer Heesen Yachts’ supervisory board. The company cited “developments in the international situation in Ukraine.”

Morcell Ltd. in Cyprus owns Heesen. This is one of the four largest luxury yacht builders in the Netherlands. Its managers, however, are Dutch.

Although trading in Lukoil shares was suspended, neither Alekperov or the members of the resignation board are listed on any international sanction lists.

Pavel Sukhoruchkin, Pavel Novoselov stated in a statement that “the current situation (leads us) to step back for a good company that is near to our hearts.”

The Dutch investigative news portal “Follow The Money”, first reported the resignations.

A report from industry publication SuperYacht Times in 2021 shows that Russians have become the second largest buyers of yachts larger than 40 meters.

In the Netherlands, yacht building is an important industry. The chamber of commerce records shows that Heesen (Feadship), Damen Shipyards and Oceanco had combined sales in excess of 1.5 billion euro ($1.66billion) by 2020.

Heesen’s resignations come as a result of Joe Biden, the United States President, declaring at the beginning of the month that America was joining with European allies in “finding and seizing (oligarchs) yachts.”

France has seize one yacht that it believes is associated to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin. However, other luxury yachts such as the one in Hamburg owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Ustanov have been delayed or stuck at ports due to financial sanctions.

Reuters reported that five yachts owned and operated by Russian billionaires were moved to Maldives on March 3. The Maldives does not have an extradition treaty.

($1 = 0.9056 euros)