igor makarov yacht

Russian billionaire's yacht is docked in St. Augustine

Yacht is worth $7m.

St. Augustine is home to a Russian billionaire's $7 million yacht.  

Igor Makarov's 128-foot yacht, called Areti I, has been in St. Augustine at Camachee Cove for years, a spokesman for his firm, Areti International Group, said. 

But the yacht has gained wider attention after Forbes posted an article  by staff writer Giacomo Tognini naming Makarov's yacht among over 30 that are owned by Russian billionaires or billionaires born in Russia. 

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Who is Igor Makarov?

According to Forbes , Makarov is worth $2.1 billion and founded "Itera, Russia's first independent gas company," which operated out of Jacksonville for more than 20 years. Rosneft bought Itera for $2.9 billion in 2013. 

Makarov is now the president of the Areti International Group, (Itera spelled backward) which, according to his website, focuses on "investments in the oil and gas sector … engineering, power supply, real estate development as well as production and supply of food commodities."

The firm is composed of "subsidiaries and affiliated companies with business interests in Russia, Switzerland, the CIS Countries and the Baltic States, United States, Canada, Western Europe, and the Middle East."

Areti International Group released a statement to The Record on Wednesday:

"Areti is an international company based in Switzerland. Like many international companies, Areti maintains offices in numerous business centers around the world, including Switzerland, Cyprus and Russia. At this time, the company is not engaged in any energy or business projects within either Russia or Ukraine. Neither Areti nor Mr. Makarov are or have ever been the subject of any governmental sanctions."

Earlier this month, Politico wrote : "Calgary-based natural gas producer Spartan Delta Corp. … recently had 19.9% of its shares acquired by Russian oligarch Igor Makarov — according to a report in the Financial Post. A billionaire born in the Soviet Union, Makarov was a major player in the Russian oil and gas sector, with ties to close Putin allies Gubarnguly Berdimuhamedow, president of Turkmenistan, and Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus — who has allowed his country to be a staging facility for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His name appeared on a Treasury Department list of major Russian oligarchs 'close to Putin.' Published in 2018, the list was criticized for cribbing a Forbes report of Russia’s richest individuals."

Areti I is registered in the Cayman Islands, according to Forbes. Forbes used data from VesselsValue in its reporting. 

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AMATASIA Yacht – Gorgeous $200M Superyacht

Lürssen Yachts is the builder behind AMATASIA and has built other custom superyachts like Azzam, the second-largest private yacht in the world, at 180m (590.5 ft).

Winch Design, a British design company, designed the interior and exterior of AMATASIA.

The 85m superyacht is spacious with a 15m broad beam to accommodate 18 guests and 28 crew members.

AMATASIA yacht interior

The interior of the AMATASIA yacht, designed by Winch Design , is traditionally designed with a modern American twist that gives it a young and sporty feel.

The interior is brightly lit, with aluminum, steel, and wood veneer as the predominant materials, and reflects an intimate and cozy atmosphere despite the size of the yacht.

The AMATASIA yacht was designed with entertaining family and friends in mind and boasts accommodation for 18 guests in nine rooms.

Across the four levels of the superyacht, there is an Owners Suite, two VIP Suites, six guest staterooms, and accommodation for 28 crew members.

An elevator services all the levels of the yacht. AMATASIA has a pool and spa that offers a variety of treatments and a sky lounge on the upper deck.

The helipad is fully licensed and is often used as a sun lounging spot. The bridge deck also has a gym and hot tub.

Specifications

The 85m (278 ft) yacht has a spacious layout with a 14.8m (48.6 ft) broad beam and a draft of 3.9m (12.8 ft).

The AMATASIA yacht displaces 2851 tons and can reach a top speed of 17kn, retaining a cruising speed of 15kn.

She can cover a cruising range of 6000 nautical miles with her twin diesel MTU engines. AMATASIA was built by Lürssen Yachts in Germany at their Rendsburg shipyard in 2017.

She is in the top 5% by LOA (Length overall) of boats globally and is one of 58 yachts in the 80-90m range.

Compared to other yachts, she is considered over average by 373.14 GT (gross ton). AMATASIA costs between $15 and $20 million to operate every year.

AMATASIA’s exterior is defined by a subtle cream-colored hull and a white superstructure with grey accents.

Designed by Winch Design to portray a stylish and smooth modern exterior, the large boat exudes sophistication.

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The West has sanctioned Russia’s rich. But is that really punishing Putin and helping Ukraine?

Igor Makarov poses for a photo during his interview with the Associated Press in Verona, Italy, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. Most of his fortune earned doing business in Russia and the former Soviet Union is frozen, and his plans to develop his energy businesses are currently shelved. Western officials say sanctions against Russia’s billionaires are meant to isolate President Vladimir Putin, choke off support for his war and turn powerful business allies against him. But in the 20 months since the invasion, only a handful of sanctioned businessmen have spoken out against him. (AP Photo/Emma Burrows)

A small craft passes by Igor Makarov’s 128-foot yacht, called Areti I docked at Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor marina, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, in St. Augustine, Fla. Most of his fortune earned doing business in Russia and the former Soviet Union is frozen, and his plans to develop his energy businesses are currently shelved. His yacht is seized and his two private jets are grounded. Western officials say sanctions against Russia’s billionaires are meant to isolate President Vladimir Putin, choke off support for his war and turn powerful business allies against him. But in the 20 months since the invasion, only a handful of sanctioned businessmen have spoken out against him. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

FILE - Oleg Tinkov speaks to the media during a Tinkoff-Saxo cycling team news conference in London on May 28, 2010. Tinkov, a banker and entrepreneur, has renounced his Russian citizenship and called President Vladimir Putin a “fascist,” and was removed from the United Kingdom’s sanctions list. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

FILE - In this file photo taken on Sept. 21, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh, right, during his visits Russia’s largest internet search engine Yandex headquarters in Moscow, Russia. Volozh has been one of Russia’s wealthy businessmen to have condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as “barbaric,’ but he has remained on the European Union’s sanctions list. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Arkady Volozh, head of Russia’s largest internet search engine Yandex CEO, attends an annual VTB Capital “Russia Calling!” Investment Forum in Moscow, Russia on Nov. 20, 2019. Volozh has been one of Russia’s wealthy businessmen to have condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as “barbaric,’ but he has remained on the European Union’s sanctions list. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

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VERONA, Italy (AP) — Sitting on a terrace in Verona as the bells toll at a nearby medieval church, Igor Makarov sips coffee as he describes his life as a billionaire under Western sanctions.

Most of his fortune earned doing business in Russia and the former Soviet Union is frozen, and his plans to develop his energy businesses are currently shelved. His yacht is seized and his two private jets are grounded, so he flew commercial from Cyprus to Italy on budget carrier EasyJet.

“I ask the question, what is the meaning of these sanctions against me? What do they achieve? They don’t help Ukraine,” Makarov said in a rare interview, blinking in the Italian sunshine.

Western governments have sanctioned scores of billionaires in order to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin, choke off financial support for his war and turn them against him. They wanted the tycoons to “feel the consequences” of doing business with Putin unless they show “a change in behavior,” said Peter Stano, the European Commission’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson.

In April 2022, the White House also announced a proposal to seize the targeted tycoons’ assets in some circumstances and “enable the proceeds to flow to Ukraine.”

In the 21 months since then, however, few of the sanctioned businessmen have criticized Putin and just $5.4 million of an estimated $58 billion in frozen private assets has gone to Kyiv. Some of the wealthy businessmen are now fighting back in court, calling the sanctions process opaque, illegal and unfair.

While sanctions have made life difficult for the tycoons, “it’s not in the short term benefiting Ukraine,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, a former British ambassador to Belarus and senior fellow for Russia & Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

Amid growing concerns about the future of Western funding for Ukraine, former diplomats and experts are asking what can be done to make the sanctions more effective and help Kyiv financially.

They say a different approach is needed that could include offering tycoons a more clearly defined route off sanctions lists in exchange for cash and condemning Putin. It’s a controversial idea among Western governments, not least because they don’t want to suggest tycoons can buy their way off lists. Sanctions relief also doesn’t have the backing of Ukraine.

PUTIN AND THE RICH

While in power, Putin has tapped Russia’s elites to fund his pet projects or fill gaps in government funding. On the day of the invasion, he summoned some of them to the Kremlin to shore up their support. Later, he railed against wealthy Russian “traitors” with pro-Western views who take assets abroad.

The West has long viewed much of the Russians’ wealth as the “proceeds of corruption” and saw the invasion as a “golden opportunity” to crack down, said Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Lawmakers wanted to punish Putin for the invasion and engaged in “emotional sanctioning,” said Fiona Hill, a former senior official at the U.S. National Security Council. But, punishment alone, with no intended outcome, is ineffective, Hill suggested.

A ‘POINTLESS’ EXERCISE

The personal asset freezes target a wide range of people: top officials like Putin and so-called oligarchs, regional officials with few assets abroad, and tycoons like the 61-year-old Makarov.

Makarov was born in Turkmenistan when the Central Asian country was part of the Soviet Union and founded a natural gas company in the early 1990s.

He is accused by the U.K. of involvement in the Russian energy sector and by Canada of benefiting from close associations with top Russian government officials to broker energy deals that helped generate revenues the Kremlin used to “lay the groundwork” for its invasion of Ukraine.

Makarov denies any wrongdoing and says he has not done business in Russia since 2013, when he was forced by government officials to sell his company at a bargain price to Russian energy giant Rosneft.

About 90% of his assets — more than $1.6 billion — are frozen by Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

Most tycoons are not sanctioned in every Western country because each government decides that based on its own legal, economic and geopolitical reasons.

Because he is not sanctioned in the European Union or the United States, Makarov is still able to fund a lifestyle in Cyprus, Italy and Dubai.

He said the biggest impact of sanctions has been on his family — some of his daughter’s bank accounts have been closed and he can no longer access funds in a family trust.

Makarov renounced his Russian citizenship this year, saying he thought it would get the sanctions lifted, but hasn’t explicitly denounced Putin. He called that a “pointless” exercise because of the president’s domestic popularity.

“I have nothing to do with this Ukrainian tragedy, which I am deeply concerned about,” he said. “I am against war all over the world.”

Few tycoons have spoken out publicly and only a handful have unequivocally denounced the war, partly because they know it carries risk. Some still have relatives inside Russia, and they know the Kremlin is able to retaliate against opponents, both at home and abroad.

Banker and entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov had sanctions lifted by the U.K. in July after renouncing his Russian citizenship, condemning the invasion and calling Putin a “fascist.” Arkady Volozh, the head of Yandex — Russia’s equivalent of Google — called the war “barbaric” — but stayed on the EU sanctions list.

A DRAWN-OUT PROCESS

The piecemeal application of sanctions has led some critics to suggest they are a PR tool that does little to force any change in Russia. Current and former Western officials disagree, with experts like Hill calling them part of a “toolbox.”

Sanctions are not “decisive” on their own but do put “pressure on Putin and the whole system,” said Ambassador Daniel Fried, who led the U.S. State Department’s sanctions response to Russia after it illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

“You don’t expect Russia to be defeated and driven out of Ukrainian territory in a year and a half,” added Gould-Davies. “Why should we expect sanctions to cause the disintegration of the Russian regime in a year and a half?”

As for sending money to Ukraine, the difficulty for Western nations is that the assets of sanctioned individuals generally can only be liquidated if they are related to criminal activity. That can take years to prove, and most tycoons have not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

New legislation this year allowed the U.S. to send frozen assets to Ukraine, but that related to a tycoon initially sanctioned over Crimea’s annexation. Western nations also are investigating whether they can strip Russia of over $300 billion in sovereign assets.

DEFECT, DENOUNCE, DONATE

Because seizing assets to help Ukraine is complex, some experts suggest governments look at more creative methods.

One idea would be to establish a policy under which Russian businessmen could effectively defect to the West, denounce the war, and make a sizable donation of their assets to Ukraine.

In June, Britain announced a plan in which tycoons could donate frozen funds for Ukraine’s reconstruction. There was no rush to participate — perhaps because the Foreign Office said it would not offer sanctions relief in return, although it could potentially review them if tycoons donate and denounce Putin.

While Western officials say they will never allow tycoons to simply buy their way off the list, Keatinge said both the U.K. Foreign Office and its sanctions office have floated the idea of donation, which suggests “a new chapter ... is around the corner.”

Ukraine does not support sanctions relief of any kind on tycoons and would accept it only in circumstances where “a very serious part of their assets are transferred for reconstruction,” said a sanctions adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office. The adviser, who did not have permission to talk publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine also would want “a very clear and public statement about Putin and the war.”

Only $5.4 million in assets confiscated by the West — in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea — has gone for the benefit of Ukraine, and “if you can get more than that, it would be a good outcome,” Keatinge said, adding that a tycoon also should have to put themselves at risk “to some degree” by condemning Putin.

Fried said the West should not be looking to “ease sanctions at a wholesale level.”

“But there ought to be a credible off-ramp” for sanctioned individuals, he said, including a denunciation of Putin and handing over some assets to Ukraine.

If a tycoon accepted any such offer, they would probably once again have access to opportunities and fortunes in the West, including assets they might want to pass on to their children. At the same time, they would also trigger Kremlin condemnation and face being branded a traitor.

From the Italian terrace, Makarov seemed frustrated as he mulled the idea.

“For a person to be motivated,” he said, “they must be offered something and it should work.”

Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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I-team: russian billionaire with ties to northeast florida sanctioned in canada, australia, igor makarov was concerned about us sanctions in 2018, consultant says.

Anne Maxwell , I-TEAM and general assignment reporter

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There is new information in a News4JAX I-TEAM investigation into a Russian billionaire with ties to Northeast Florida.

Igor Makarov founded his company, ITERA, in Jacksonville in the early 1990s, selling it to a Russia-owned gas company years later.

In April, Canada and Australia sanctioned Makarov, as part of the sanctions on individuals.

I-TEAM: Billionaire with ties to Northeast Florida draws attention following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Now, the I-TEAM has learned that back in 2018, Makarov was concerned about being sanctioned in the United States.

The I-TEAM talked with the consultant who put together a report detailing Makarov’s risk of sanctions and said Makarov reported he’d accompanied Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a trade delegation in 2007 — after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine.

According to the report, there’s no hard evidence of Makarov engaging in crime, but his relative proximity to Putin could make him a “good enough” target for sanctions if the U.S. wanted to send a message.

Makarov amassed a huge fortune after the fall of the Soviet Union. He also made some enemies who would like to see him taken down a notch.

He was born in Turkmenistan, made billions of dollars in the natural gas industry and made a home in Northeast Florida , headquartering his business ITERA in a Southside office building, owning an 11-bedroom mansion in Ponte Vedra Beach and harboring a yacht in St. Augustine.

In 2018, law enforcement and intelligence researcher and consultant Clifford Karchmer visited Makarov in Florida.

“I spent several days with Mr. Makarov,” Karchmer said.

His mission? A deep dive into Makarov’s past businesses to evaluate if he might be sanctioned as part of an effort to punish Russia for invading Ukraine.

Karchmer provided a rough draft of his 2018 report to the I-TEAM. It states Makarov was a Russian citizen and resident and “a prominent member of Russia’s energy elite.”

Karchmer writes that many have raised suspicions about the company’s swift rise to become one of the most influential in all of the former Soviet bloc, that he’s often been “regarded as a true ‘Putin-era oligarch,’” and that while business or political enemies may have been behind the release of some of the attacks on Makarov’s reputation, “factual reasons for concerns regarding potentially controversial ties and business dealings persist.”

“The group that I work with is very concerned with the initial impression and whether we believe the person to be blameless or innocent,” Karchmer said.

Makarov hired Karchmer after the U.S. Treasury listed Makarov as one of 96 Russian oligarchs in 2018. That list was later found to be an exact replica of the Russians listed on Forbes Magazine’s 2017 billionaires list , but it was enough for him to be concerned about sanctions.

Karchmer said his team doesn’t work with people who are dirty and they didn’t find any evidence of wrongdoing in the course of this investigation after reviewing public sources and financial records provided by Makarov. And indeed, Makarov has never been sanctioned in the U.S.

But this spring, American allies Canada and Australia sanctioned Makarov after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Karchmer acknowledged there is a possibility Makarov could be sanctioned in the U.S. but said, “It’s remote.”

He said he thinks there are potentially dozens of people the U.S. would sanction before getting to Makarov, just based on his net worth — estimated by Forbes to be around $2 billion.

“The more logical reason he won’t be sanctioned is he’s not done anything in my mind, that I found, and I’ve followed the media, to deserve sanctioning. I don’t know why he’s sanctioned in Canada, except that they wanted to become a player and sanction oligarchs, or people they believed to be oligarchy,” Karchmer said.

On April 19, Canada sanctioned 14 “close associates” of the Rusian regime , including Putin’s two adult daughters and Makarov. The government said those individuals were sanctioned because of their “complicity in Russia’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine,” freezing their assets and prohibiting Canadians from doing business with them.

The I-TEAM asked Makarov for comment on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through his representatives, and he declined.

The I-TEAM asked Karchmer if he found Makarov had any — or has — any relationship with Putin.

“I anticipated this question, and here’s my frank, honest answer: We discussed this with Mr. Makarov at length. He was contacted by the Putin entourage or administration to join them to join Putin and a trade delegation to go somewhere where the Russian government was presenting its background and stakes and credentials in energy. But he was invited by Putin. There had been no prior communication or entry or anything that he wanted to meet Putin — or that he sought Putin out. Putin sought him out,” Karchmer said.

Karchmer said Makarov did accompany Putin and others on a trade mission to India in 2007.

The I-TEAM asked Karchmer why he would seek out Makarov for that.

“Because of the relationship of Mr. Makarov to natural gas production in Turkmenistan,” Karchmer said.

The meeting happened before Russia was targeted with sanctions. Karchmer says Makarov likely accompanied Putin on the mission to maintain his standing.

“His standard as a citizen, it’s common knowledge, what happens to people who Mr. Putin does not favor from prison to, frankly, lethality, you know, to death. And I don’t think you would want to mess with well, what would happen in my case, it’s so much easier to go to a trade conference,” Karchmer said.

According to the report, most of Makrov’s business dealings are registered in Cyprus and offshore tax jurisdictions such as the Netherlands Antilles and the British Virgin Islands, and although the core of his main original business ITERA was in the area of the former Soviet Union, it was registered in Jacksonville, likely to take advantage of Florida law that allowed businesses to avoid disclosing who owned them.

Makarov’s team has declined to comment.

Copyright 2022 by WJXT News4JAX - All rights reserved.

About the Author:

Anne maxwell.

I-TEAM and general assignment reporter

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Billionaire with ties to northeast florida draws attention following russia’s invasion of ukraine.

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Cycling powerbroker, Igor Makarov, hit with sanctions

Makarov is persona non grata in canada and australia, having been identified as a "close associate of the russian regime"..

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

Igor Makarov – one of cycling’s most powerful figures – has been named on a list of individuals sanctioned by the Canadian Government in the wake of Russia’s “illegal and unjustifiable invasion” of Ukraine.

This latest round of sanctions, imposed under Canada’s Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations , targets 14 “close associates of the Russian regime, including Russian oligarchs and their family members”. Alongside two of Putin’s daughters is the enigmatic figure of Igor Viktorovich Makarov, who has been the subject of considerable media attention – both inside and outside of cycling – since Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine began.

Makarov was also listed as a sanctioned individual in Australia under the Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons – Ukraine) Amendment in early April, although this has not previously come to light. This would appear to make it impossible for Makarov to travel to the 2022 UCI Road World Championships and management committee meeting, to be held in Wollongong in September.

The sanctions on Makarov seem likely to ratchet up pressure within the UCI, cycling’s governing body, to remove Makarov from its management committee. The UCI’s Ukraine-related measures have previously banned Russian and Belarusian cycling teams and events, but etched out a narrow path for Russian officials to continue serving in their roles. That in turn led to boycotts and disillusionment from numerous national cycling federations, with at least 12 influential European nations directly pushing for the expulsion of figures including Makarov.

The IOC – under which the UCI sits – has likewise come under increasing pressure to oust Russian officials from its ranks. Earlier this week, the Swiss Sports Minister Viola Amherd called on the IOC to take this “further step”, joining the sports ministers of 30 other countries in calling for this action.

Thus far, the UCI has moved in lockstep with the IOC, which, in an impressive display of mental gymnastics, has responded with the claim that Russian members – who represent Russia – are “not representatives of their country.” UCI President David Lappartient was recently elected to the IOC for an eight year term, so is unlikely to rock the boat too much by pushing out a personal ally in Makarov.

Makarov has an estimated wealth of over US$2 billion, and is the honorary president of the Russian Cycling Federation. A former track cyclist who has erroneously claimed to be an Olympian, Makarov has been a member of the UCI’s management committee since 2013, and is widely understood to have helped orchestrate the rise or fall of the last three UCI Presidents. Since becoming UCI President in 2017, David Lappartient has been described as being “in the palm of Makarov” – whose business group, Areti, has at various points also been a major financial backer of the European Cycling Federation, a powerful UCI voting bloc.

In 2020, Makarov and Lappartient were both parties on a reputationally-damaging call to then-Turkmen President , Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, awarding the vicious dictator the UCI’s highest honour in “recognition of [his] commitment to our sport.” That “commitment” may or may not have included the payment of quite a lot of money to the UCI for the rights to host the 2021 World Track Championships, which were to be held in a bizarre ‘Olympic Village’ that Makarov’s business had previously won construction contracts for.

After substantial public outcry following CyclingTips’ breaking and follow-up reporting on that story, the Track Championships were removed from Turkmenistan – apparently due to COVID, a pandemic that the Turkmen government does not recognise as existing .

Outside of cycling, Makarov has appeared on a list of Russian Oligarchs with ties to the Kremlin; from past experience, a PR firm acting for Makarov would like it to be known that they strongly dispute and discredit the legitimacy of this characterisation.

Makarov has extensive business interests globally – including in the US, Canada, and Turkmenistan , and has ties to north east Florida , where a rather nice, Cayman Islands-registered yacht called Areti is moored , an 11-bedroom/15-bathroom/US$17 million mansion is up for sale, and a four-storey office building houses a web of companies linked to Areti (the business group, not the yacht). In 2006, that office building was raided by the FBI over allegations that a predecessor of Areti, ITERA, had possibly tried to bribe a congressman. [Representatives for Makarov have previously noted that “​​Neither Mr. Makarov, Itera or anyone associated with the company were charged, prosecuted or publicly accused by authorities of bribery or any similar crime.”] Makarov was also  identified in the Pandora Papers  as having set up a trust in the US tax haven state Wyoming,  nesting other companies  based in the British Virgin Islands inside it.

Makarov’s interests in Canada, meanwhile, include a substantial stake in the Calgary-based energy corporation, Spartan Delta Corp . Since the Canadian government imposed sanctions on Makarov – among a swathe of other measures – his assets in the country will be frozen, and he is prohibited from entering Canada.

In  a feature published last month , CyclingTips revealed apparent attempts by Makarov and his business to downplay his connection to Russia, with the Areti website shown to have been edited to remove multiple references to Makarov’s country of nationality, Russia.

For that feature, PR representatives for Makarov forcefully responded to request for comment from CyclingTips – variously denying that he was an oligarch, refuting claims that he had ties to Putin, declining to provide any comment from Makarov on the war in Ukraine, and stressing that “neither ARETI nor Mr. Makarov are or have ever been the subject of any governmental sanctions.”

Some of those talking points now appear to be redundant. It remains to be seen whether other NATO countries follow Canada’s lead, and what implications that may have on the mysterious Mr Makarov’s involvement in cycling.

The UCI and representatives of Mr Makarov have been contacted for comment. This story will be updated with any responses .

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The West has sanctioned Russia's rich. But is that really punishing Putin and helping Ukraine?

Igor Makarov poses for a photo during his interview with the Associated Press in Verona, Italy, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. Most of his fortune earned doing business in Russia and the former Soviet Union is frozen, and his plans to develop his energy businesses are currently shelved. Western officials say sanctions against Russia's billionaires are meant to isolate President Vladimir Putin, choke off support for his war and turn powerful business allies against him. But in the 20 months since the invasion, only a handful of sanctioned businessmen have spoken out against him. Credit: AP/Emma Burrows

VERONA, Italy — Sitting on a terrace in Verona as the bells toll at a nearby medieval church, Igor Makarov sips coffee as he describes his life as a billionaire under Western sanctions.

Most of his fortune earned doing business in Russia and the former Soviet Union is frozen, and his plans to develop his energy businesses are currently shelved. His yacht is seized and his two private jets are grounded, so he flew commercial from Cyprus to Italy on budget carrier EasyJet.

“I ask the question, what is the meaning of these sanctions against me? What do they achieve? They don’t help Ukraine,” Makarov said in a rare interview, blinking in the Italian sunshine.

Western governments have sanctioned scores of billionaires in order to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin, choke off financial support for his war and turn them against him. They wanted the tycoons to “feel the consequences” of doing business with Putin unless they show “a change in behavior,” said Peter Stano, the European Commission’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson.

In April 2022, the White House also announced a proposal to seize the targeted tycoons' assets in some circumstances and “enable the proceeds to flow to Ukraine."

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In the 21 months since then, however, few of the sanctioned businessmen have criticized Putin and just $5.4 million of an estimated $58 billion in frozen private assets has gone to Kyiv. Some of the wealthy businessmen are now fighting back in court, calling the sanctions process opaque, illegal and unfair.

While sanctions have made life difficult for the tycoons, “it’s not in the short term benefiting Ukraine,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, a former British ambassador to Belarus and senior fellow for Russia & Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

A small craft passes by Igor Makarov's 128-foot yacht, called Areti I docked at Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor marina, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, in St. Augustine, Fla. Most of his fortune earned doing business in Russia and the former Soviet Union is frozen, and his plans to develop his energy businesses are currently shelved. His yacht is seized and his two private jets are grounded. Western officials say sanctions against Russia's billionaires are meant to isolate President Vladimir Putin, choke off support for his war and turn powerful business allies against him. But in the 20 months since the invasion, only a handful of sanctioned businessmen have spoken out against him. Credit: AP/John Raoux

Amid growing concerns about the future of Western funding for Ukraine, former diplomats and experts are asking what can be done to make the sanctions more effective and help Kyiv financially.

They say a different approach is needed that could include offering tycoons a more clearly defined route off sanctions lists in exchange for cash and condemning Putin. It’s a controversial idea among Western governments, not least because they don’t want to suggest tycoons can buy their way off lists. Sanctions relief also doesn’t have the backing of Ukraine.

PUTIN AND THE RICH

While in power, Putin has tapped Russia's elites to fund his pet projects or fill gaps in government funding. On the day of the invasion, he summoned some of them to the Kremlin to shore up their support. Later, he railed against wealthy Russian “traitors” with pro-Western views who take assets abroad.

Oleg Tinkov speaks to the media during a Tinkoff-Saxo cycling team news conference in London on May 28, 2010. Tinkov, a banker and entrepreneur, has renounced his Russian citizenship and called President Vladimir Putin a "fascist," and was removed from the United Kingdom's sanctions list. Credit: AP/Sang Tan

The West has long viewed much of the Russians' wealth as the “proceeds of corruption” and saw the invasion as a “golden opportunity” to crack down, said Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Lawmakers wanted to punish Putin for the invasion and engaged in “emotional sanctioning,” said Fiona Hill, a former senior official at the U.S. National Security Council. But, punishment alone, with no intended outcome, is ineffective, Hill suggested.

A ‘POINTLESS’ EXERCISE

The personal asset freezes target a wide range of people: top officials like Putin and so-called oligarchs, regional officials with few assets abroad, and tycoons like the 61-year-old Makarov.

Makarov was born in Turkmenistan when the Central Asian country was part of the Soviet Union and founded a natural gas company in the early 1990s.

He is accused by the U.K. of involvement in the Russian energy sector and by Canada of benefiting from close associations with top Russian government officials to broker energy deals that helped generate revenues the Kremlin used to “lay the groundwork” for its invasion of Ukraine.

Makarov denies any wrongdoing and says he has not done business in Russia since 2013, when he was forced by government officials to sell his company at a bargain price to Russian energy giant Rosneft.

About 90% of his assets — more than $1.6 billion — are frozen by Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

Most tycoons are not sanctioned in every Western country because each government decides that based on its own legal, economic and geopolitical reasons.

Because he is not sanctioned in the European Union or the United States, Makarov is still able to fund a lifestyle in Cyprus, Italy and Dubai.

He said the biggest impact of sanctions has been on his family — some of his daughter’s bank accounts have been closed and he can no longer access funds in a family trust.

Makarov renounced his Russian citizenship this year, saying he thought it would get the sanctions lifted, but hasn't explicitly denounced Putin. He called that a “pointless” exercise because of the president’s domestic popularity.

“I have nothing to do with this Ukrainian tragedy, which I am deeply concerned about,” he said. “I am against war all over the world.”

Few tycoons have spoken out publicly and only a handful have unequivocally denounced the war, partly because they know it carries risk. Some still have relatives inside Russia, and they know the Kremlin is able to retaliate against opponents, both at home and abroad.

Banker and entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov had sanctions lifted by the U.K. in July after renouncing his Russian citizenship, condemning the invasion and calling Putin a “fascist.” Arkady Volozh, the head of Yandex — Russia’s equivalent of Google — called the war “barbaric” — but stayed on the EU sanctions list.

A DRAWN-OUT PROCESS

The piecemeal application of sanctions has led some critics to suggest they are a PR tool that does little to force any change in Russia. Current and former Western officials disagree, with experts like Hill calling them part of a “toolbox.”

Sanctions are not “decisive” on their own but do put “pressure on Putin and the whole system,” said Ambassador Daniel Fried, who led the U.S. State Department’s sanctions response to Russia after it illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

“You don’t expect Russia to be defeated and driven out of Ukrainian territory in a year and a half,” added Gould-Davies. “Why should we expect sanctions to cause the disintegration of the Russian regime in a year and a half?"

As for sending money to Ukraine, the difficulty for Western nations is that the assets of sanctioned individuals generally can only be liquidated if they are related to criminal activity. That can take years to prove, and most tycoons have not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

New legislation this year allowed the U.S. to send frozen assets to Ukraine, but that related to a tycoon initially sanctioned over Crimea's annexation. Western nations also are investigating whether they can strip Russia of over $300 billion in sovereign assets.

DEFECT, DENOUNCE, DONATE

Because seizing assets to help Ukraine is complex, some experts suggest governments look at more creative methods.

One idea would be to establish a policy under which Russian businessmen could effectively defect to the West, denounce the war, and make a sizable donation of their assets to Ukraine.

In June, Britain announced a plan in which tycoons could donate frozen funds for Ukraine’s reconstruction. There was no rush to participate — perhaps because the Foreign Office said it would not offer sanctions relief in return, although it could potentially review them if tycoons donate and denounce Putin.

While Western officials say they will never allow tycoons to simply buy their way off the list, Keatinge said both the U.K. Foreign Office and its sanctions office have floated the idea of donation, which suggests “a new chapter ... is around the corner.”

Ukraine does not support sanctions relief of any kind on tycoons and would accept it only in circumstances where “a very serious part of their assets are transferred for reconstruction,” said a sanctions adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office. The adviser, who did not have permission to talk publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine also would want “a very clear and public statement about Putin and the war.”

Only $5.4 million in assets confiscated by the West — in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea — has gone for the benefit of Ukraine, and "if you can get more than that, it would be a good outcome," Keatinge said, adding that a tycoon also should have to put themselves at risk “to some degree” by condemning Putin.

Fried said the West should not be looking to “ease sanctions at a wholesale level.”

“But there ought to be a credible off-ramp” for sanctioned individuals, he said, including a denunciation of Putin and handing over some assets to Ukraine.

If a tycoon accepted any such offer, they would probably once again have access to opportunities and fortunes in the West, including assets they might want to pass on to their children. At the same time, they would also trigger Kremlin condemnation and face being branded a traitor.

From the Italian terrace, Makarov seemed frustrated as he mulled the idea.

“For a person to be motivated,” he said, “they must be offered something and it should work.”

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One UCI official, two jets and three yachts

A good salary in a hard currency combined with tax perks make working at the UCI a financially rewarding role. But not everyone does it for the money. One member of  the UCI Management Committee who doesn’t need extra income is Igor Makarov.

Chairman of ITERA, the Russian gas trading company, some say Makarov is a billionaire but it’s hard to be precise with his net worth. He’s the former champion cyclist who started selling jeans on the streets of Turkmenistan and became a Russian oligarch and now helps run Russian cycling as well as the UCI. Needless to say he is wealthy and busy too. So whilst some UCI officials might get to travel in business or first class, Makarov goes private. The jet above is his .

The plane is registered in Aruba to ITERA Holdings so it is a corporate jet and strictly-speaking not Mr Makarov’s personal vehicle, although he is the company’s founder and chairman. But we can perhaps tie some of this jetset aviation to pro cycling.

That’s another aircraft registered to ITERA – the corporate logo is next to the door – and it’s taking off from Sion airport in Switzerland, just a few kilometres away from the UCI’s headquarters in Aigle. Note the registration, P4-IVM as in Igor Viktorovich Makarov. And the same plane flew into Copenhagen last September on the eve of the World Championships. Perhaps it was bringing Makarov for the UCI meetings and to watch the race or perhaps he kindly made the plane available for Russian riders?

Now let’s get nautical. Look at the fine yacht above, named Areti and delivered last year. It measures some 60 metres (200 feet), placing it amongst the top-50 superyachts of the world. She includes an elevator with access for all decks, a gymnasium, steam room and sauna, change rooms and apparently there’s even bicycle storage on board. A replacement perhaps for the two sister ships Areti I and Areti II, both from 2007 and built so one could sail in the Caribbean and the other could sail in European waters.

The yachts are owned by a young Russian industrialist who has chosen to build two identical yachts due to business interests that divide his time almost equally between Russia/Europe and the U.S.  This will give him constant access to his yachts in both regions to enjoy quiet family time and to entertain business associates

Who could this young Russian industrialist be? With business interests in Russia, Europe and the US? Well ITERA is headquarted in Jacksonville, Florida. And the name again, Areti? That’s ITERA spelt backwards .

Conclusion Here is a very wealthy man with corporate travel arrangements to match his status as a leading Russian industrialist and generous cycle sport benefactor. Clearly Igor Makarov is a sports official with a difference .

25 thoughts on “One UCI official, two jets and three yachts”

What an odd article. I’m not sure of the point.

Informative as ever. One of Pat’s ‘people of means,’ by any chance…?!

Private jet? That’s a Boeing 737 airliner. Many heads of state don’t get aircraft as big as this.

Ryan Z: I suppose to illustrate that we have a new official who has just joined the UCI’s top table and he is quite unlike all the others when it comes to wealth and influence.

Matt Rendell: maybe we’ll see later this year when the UCI Presidency is up for grabs?

Duncan: true, I suspect the interior is well-appointed too.

Mind-boggling. Makarov is like a single man nation, owner of airliners and superyachts. Pat looks like a speck on the windscreen in front of Igor and if the Russian decides to challenge him, McQuaid’s days will be numbered.

This looks like someone used to getting things his way.

How can a member of the UCI management committee also be alowed to sponsor a team?

Clever caption for the last pic.

TC: Because this is the UCI. And everything is fine if Hein, sorry, Pat says so…

Interesting stuff, thanks. Makes me think if pro cycling was as lucrative as McQuaid and Co. are making it out to be in their sales pitch, it would seem a guy like the one above or some media magnate like Murdoch or Berlusconi could, on their own, pony up enough euros for PatCo to create races all over the place and maybe even force Le Tour de France into some sort of bargain. But so far, nothing. I suspect with some of these oligarchs pro cycling might be more about money-laundering while indulging their passions as much as anything. Only FIFA can match these guys in conflict-of-interest, corruption, etc. Can a “white knight” take over and rescue the sport from these crooks? Paul Kimmage for UCI president!

If you have so much wealth why do you go sit with the UCI on committees ?

TC: yes, there is a conflict of interest there and we’ll see how it’s addressed in the future.

Larry T: steady, or you might get a knock on the door from some unpleasant people.

Karl: good question. I can see why he wants to sponsor the Katusha team and enjoy the thrill of running a major team but spending time in official meetings is different. Perhaps we’ll see later this year when there is an election for a President of the UCI, perhaps to replace Mr McQuaid.

Does he have a single daughter?

It seems to me that for a Russian billionaire oligarch, there are only two possible motivations for personally sitting on the UCI board.

1) he feels that the title confers him respectability and contacts overseas. In which case, why the hell would you pick a sport with such a shady image?

2) as a former professional cyclist with the means to help the sport, maybe he genuinely wants to do good things for it. Now, of course, his idea of “good things” may not quite match our own, but it’s possible.

To give an example of the second scenario in action, billionaire shopping center developer Frank Lowy has been the president of Football (Soccer) Federation Australia for the past few years. He hasn’t pleased everyone with his decisions, but I think there’s general agreement that he took on the role because he genuinely wants to help Australian soccer.

And remember old hein became a friend with manolo saiz because dear manolo was friends with an spanish billionaire owning private jet. Ah, dear uci fellows love flying high and free

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/deportes/absolucion/esperada/elpepidep/20111027elpepidep_18/Tes

you are the only site asking the questions. we need to find more of what he wants he thinks of cycling and the uci.

Pat looks all gangsta in his shiny suit, looks like a pretty stiff handshake too.

Well, we ARE living in Sicily at present so I guess a “Hot-Air Hit Man” could easily be sent to our apartment. If they’ll sue Kimmage for a measly euro 8K, who knows what else they might do? The strangest part of all this is that they bring the criticism upon themselves with their so often amazingly uninformed comments.

Excellent reportage as ever. Nothing gets past you, even down to what plane landed where, when and what the pilot had for breakfast! I mean, how the hell do you find all of this stuff out? (rhetorical question, don’t worry!)

That first photo is incredible. I was convinced it was a hoax, so I googled Princess Juliana Airport in St Maarten. Plenty of crazy photos of 747s coming in. Apparently that beach is popular with sunbathing planespotters…

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Superb research as always – and corrections made within hours. Great comments too. As for personal motivation, I guess the link to a role within the IOC could be worth something to someone who can buy anything. Hein Verbruggen neatly stepped out of the UCI into the IOC, one wonders whether Makarov has an eye on a similar route. Or perhaps his motives are less selfish – maybe here is someone who wants to promote cycling in their home country. I have an open mind about him.

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Cruising the Moskva River: A short guide to boat trips in Russia’s capital

There’s hardly a better way to absorb Moscow’s atmosphere than on a ship sailing up and down the Moskva River. While complicated ticketing, loud music and chilling winds might dampen the anticipated fun, this checklist will help you to enjoy the scenic views and not fall into common tourist traps.

How to find the right boat?

There are plenty of boats and selecting the right one might be challenging. The size of the boat should be your main criteria.

Plenty of small boats cruise the Moskva River, and the most vivid one is this yellow Lay’s-branded boat. Everyone who has ever visited Moscow probably has seen it.

This option might leave a passenger disembarking partially deaf as the merciless Russian pop music blasts onboard. A free spirit, however, will find partying on such a vessel to be an unforgettable and authentic experience that’s almost a metaphor for life in modern Russia: too loud, and sometimes too welcoming. Tickets start at $13 (800 rubles) per person.

Bigger boats offer smoother sailing and tend to attract foreign visitors because of their distinct Soviet aura. Indeed, many of the older vessels must have seen better days. They are still afloat, however, and getting aboard is a unique ‘cultural’ experience. Sometimes the crew might offer lunch or dinner to passengers, but this option must be purchased with the ticket. Here is one such  option  offering dinner for $24 (1,490 rubles).

If you want to travel in style, consider Flotilla Radisson. These large, modern vessels are quite posh, with a cozy restaurant and an attentive crew at your service. Even though the selection of wines and food is modest, these vessels are still much better than other boats.

Surprisingly, the luxurious boats are priced rather modestly, and a single ticket goes for $17-$32 (1,100-2,000 rubles); also expect a reasonable restaurant bill on top.

How to buy tickets?

Women holding photos of ships promise huge discounts to “the young and beautiful,” and give personal invitations for river tours. They sound and look nice, but there’s a small catch: their ticket prices are usually more than those purchased online.

“We bought tickets from street hawkers for 900 rubles each, only to later discover that the other passengers bought their tickets twice as cheap!”  wrote  (in Russian) a disappointed Rostislav on a travel company website.

Nevertheless, buying from street hawkers has one considerable advantage: they personally escort you to the vessel so that you don’t waste time looking for the boat on your own.

Prices start at $13 (800 rubles) for one ride, and for an additional $6.5 (400 rubles) you can purchase an unlimited number of tours on the same boat on any given day.

Flotilla Radisson has official ticket offices at Gorky Park and Hotel Ukraine, but they’re often sold out.

Buying online is an option that might save some cash. Websites such as  this   offer considerable discounts for tickets sold online. On a busy Friday night an online purchase might be the only chance to get a ticket on a Flotilla Radisson boat.

This  website  (in Russian) offers multiple options for short river cruises in and around the city center, including offbeat options such as ‘disco cruises’ and ‘children cruises.’ This other  website  sells tickets online, but doesn’t have an English version. The interface is intuitive, however.

Buying tickets online has its bad points, however. The most common is confusing which pier you should go to and missing your river tour.

“I once bought tickets online to save with the discount that the website offered,” said Igor Shvarkin from Moscow. “The pier was initially marked as ‘Park Kultury,’ but when I arrived it wasn’t easy to find my boat because there were too many there. My guests had to walk a considerable distance before I finally found the vessel that accepted my tickets purchased online,” said the man.

There are two main boarding piers in the city center:  Hotel Ukraine  and  Park Kultury . Always take note of your particular berth when buying tickets online.

Where to sit onboard?

Even on a warm day, the headwind might be chilly for passengers on deck. Make sure you have warm clothes, or that the crew has blankets ready upon request.

The glass-encased hold makes the tour much more comfortable, but not at the expense of having an enjoyable experience.

Getting off the boat requires preparation as well. Ideally, you should be able to disembark on any pier along the way. In reality, passengers never know where the boat’s captain will make the next stop. Street hawkers often tell passengers in advance where they’ll be able to disembark. If you buy tickets online then you’ll have to research it yourself.

There’s a chance that the captain won’t make any stops at all and will take you back to where the tour began, which is the case with Flotilla Radisson. The safest option is to automatically expect that you’ll return to the pier where you started.

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LOOSE CANNON

Biden Has Only One Russian Yacht He Can Seize in U.S.

Relatively modest example docks at st. augustine, florida.

"We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets," President Joe Biden said Tuesday in his State of the Union Address. "We are coming for your ill-begotten gains."

Make that “yacht.” Singular, as in just one. And are federal marshals really coming to seize Areti from Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor in St. Augustine, Florida?

Forbes magazine has writers assigned full-time to covering the billionaire beat, and on Tuesday it published a map showing the location of all yachts belonging to so-called Russian oligarchs throughout the world. Only one was in the United States, a 128-foot Burger whose beneficial owner is energy magnate and Florida resident Igor Makarov.

(“Beneficial owner” is the phrase used when sorting out the corporate maze of legal ownership just isn’t worth the trouble. Areti , for example, is registered in the Cayman Islands.)

So, I read the March 1 Forbes story by Giacomo Tognini, who wrote:

 As recently as February 28,  Forbes  tracked the wealth of more than 100 Russian billionaires. Using data from yacht valuation experts VesselsValue , Forbes has compiled a list of every yacht owned by Russian billionaires and recent dropoffs—both those that have been sanctioned and those that have not. At least 12 Russian billionaires fell out of the three-comma-club on Tuesday.

Already, France and Germany have scored.  French authorities Wednesday seized the 280-foot Amore Velo , docked at La Ciotat shipyards on the south coast of France. Beneficial owner: Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russian energy giant Rosneft. Also Wednesday, Germany did not seize a 500-foot, $600 million yacht linked to another oligarch, Alisher Usmanov. Okay, not seized, but cannot leave town either. Under arrest, maybe? Forbes describes Usmanov as an “ore and steel giant.” His putative ship is named Dilbar .

Compared to these trophies to wretched excess, Areti is a positively modest craft. After learning her name, I typed it into the Marine Traffic AIS app on my phone and there she was on the screen, resting alongside the facedock at the entrance to Camachee Cove. I got in my Loose Cannon -mobile and drove over to have a look at America’s only potentially seizeable oligarch yacht.

As I expected, Areti was the biggest boat at Camachee, which happens to be the high-end marina in Northeast Florida. I snapped a few pictures of her from the Vilano Bridge. The onsite Kingfish Grill was closed but overlooks Areti from the opposite side of the entrance channel, in case you want to inspect her while enjoying a decent Painkiller

The yacht’s midship name panel was covered by canvas to hide her identity, something I had not seen since the bad old days in Havana. (Owners of American vessels that had come to Cuba without U.S. permission used to drape carpet or canvas over boat names to frustrate U.S. government marina spies, which were a thing back then.) I also noted a six-foot-tall, air-filled, American-flag tube-man dancing on the upper deck. There was at least one hand on board.

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According to published reports, Makarov engaged in the usual oligarch shenanigans in the 1990s but has otherwise kept a low profile, except in competitive cycling. Before he became an oligarch he raced bicycles, and now pushes his weight around in the cycling world through his high positions in the sport’s governing bodies. Forbes says the guy is worth is $2.1 billion. Makarov’s yacht is named after his company, the Areti International Group, formerly known as Itera, which is Areti spelled backwards.

The Areti I saw was actually Areti I , one of two of aluminum yachts that the Burger Boat Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin built for Makarov and launched in 2007. Her twin, Areti II , was kept in the Mediterranean and then sold to the CEO of Lending Tree. VesselsValue reports the value of the St. Augustine Areti at $7 million.

(To make things more confusing, Makarov had also owned a 279-foot Lurssen yacht, also named Areti . She was reportedly sold in 2019.)

I’ve emailed the Areti International Group and asked if they would please tell me why Biden shouldn’t take away Makarov’s remaining yacht. If anyone gets back to me, I’ll follow up with their statement.

Makarov was one of 96 oligarchs named in a 2017 CAATSA legislation signed into law by President Trump in 2017 despite his reservations about it. The law codefied the ability to sanction bad actors such as Russia, North Korea and Iran. But the list of individuals turned out to be pretty meaningless after it was learned that officials had just copied it from…you guessed it…the Forbes list of Russian billionaires. No effort was made to ascertain to what degree anyone on the list actually deserved punishment.

The European Union and the U.S. have sanctioned a number of oligarchs for past and present Russian transgressions. Makarov is on neither list.

So, I have no idea whether Igor Makarov, who has had a business presence in Florida since 1992 and seems to be living here too, deserves to have his boat taken away. But if it helps to end the war in Ukraine, I’m all for it.

Below are images of Areti from the Burger website. There’s an accomodations plan at the end.

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