A $500 million superyacht thought to belong to a Russian oligarch has docked back in Russia after he was sanctioned

• A superyacht said to belong to Alexei Mordashov has returned to Russia after he was sanctioned.
• Mordashov was sanctioned by the EU on February 28. The vessel docked in Vladivostok on Thursday.

A $500 million superyacht has returned to Russia a month after its purported owner, an oligarch, was sanctioned.

Alexei Mordashov is believed to be the owner of Nord, a 465-foot vessel that costs up to $50 million a year to run, according to the website SuperYacht Fan.

The yacht left the Seychelles on March 12 and docked in Vladivostok, a Russian city close to North Korea, which lies on the Sea of Japan, on Thursday morning local time, per data from VesselFinder and MarineTraffic.

The West has been imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia to crush its economy and put pressure on President Vladimir Putin to call off his invasion of Ukraine. Russian elites and oligarchs have been targeted by sanctions, with some western nations freezing their assets and seizing their private jets and superyachts.

The European Union sanctioned Mordashov on February 28, accusing him of "supporting actions and policies which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine."

"I have absolutely nothing to do with the emergence of the current geopolitical tension and I do not understand why the EU has imposed sanctions on me," Mordashov told the Russian news outlet TASS the day after the EU sanctions were announced. He has since been sanctioned by the UK, too.

Some of Mordashov's assets have already been seized under the sanctions. Italy has seized a $71 million superyacht belonging to Mordashov, as well as his $116 million property in Sardinia, Reuters reported in early March.

Some oligarchs have been shifting their yachts and private jets, in some cases thought to be to avoid sanctions.

Nord, which was delivered in 2021 and flies under a Cayman Islands flag, was built by yachtmaker Lürssen and designed by Nuvolari Lenard. It features a helicopter hangar, swimming pool, sauna, and cinema, according to SuperYacht Fan. It also won Yacht of the Year in the vessels over 270 foot category at the 2021 World Yachts Trophies, which is organized by the publisher of some European yacht magazines.

Lürssen declined to share information with Insider about the vessel's ownership. Severstal, the Russian mining company that Mordashov majority-owns and controls, also did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts Mordashov's net worth at around $22.5 billion, making him Russia's third-richest person, though his wealth has plummeted since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Mordashov is among the Russian oligarchs shuffling their assets after being sanctioned. The day he was hit by EU sanctions, Mordashov shifted his 34% stake in the travel company TUI in two separate transactions. A nearly 30% stake went to a British Virgin Islands company believed to be controlled by his wife.

Earlier this month, Mordashov also stepped down as a director at the mining company Nordgold and transferred control of a $1.1 billion stake to his wife.