As tensions with Western countries mount, Russian oligarchs are increasingly finding themselves caught between their business interests and the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

One such Russian billionaire businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev, and his superyacht ANNA, have seemingly found refuge in Kingstown, the capital of St Vincent and the Grenadines. 

Superyacht ANNA, named after Rybolovlev’s daughter, was spotted by the St Vincent Times in the Kingstown harbour on Friday (March 4). 

The docking could signal Russian influencers’ ever-shrinking options, as Rybolovlev was last in the Caribbean more than a week ago under different circumstances. Rybolovlev’s second boat, a lightweight superyacht called Skorpios, won the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Caribbean 600 race in the monohull category. 

The RORC Caribbean 600 was held off the coast of Antigua on February 23, hours before Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.

Rybolovlev, whose net worth is estimated to be US$6.7 billion and was Russia’s tenth-richest man in 2010, may have chosen to return to the Caribbean as Western nations target Russia’s rich and powerful. 

The Russian currently sits as president of the French Ligue 1 team AS Monaco.

Superyacht ANNA is Lloyd’s registered, which is issued by the Cayman Islands.

Reuters reported on Saturday that Italian police seized villas and yachts worth at least 140 million euros (US$153 million) from four high-profile Russians who were placed on an EU sanctions list following Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.

A police source said a villa owned by billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, and a villa on Lake Como owned by state TV host Vladimir Soloviev, had both been seized.

“In addition, sources confirmed that yachts belonging to Russia’s richest man, Alexey Mordashov, and Gennady Timchenko, who has close tied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, were impounded overnight in northern Italian ports,” the Reuters report continued.