Sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's $600 million superyacht is cruising off Turkey's coast after 8 days' sailing without a destination

• Roman Abramovich's yacht was off the coast of Turkey on Monday, ship-tracking data shows.
• His $600 million yacht, Solaris, is "scenic cruising" without a port destination, per MarineTraffic.

A luxury superyacht owned by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich that has been sailing without a destination for more than a week updated its status for the first time since leaving port, suggesting it has no immediate intention of docking, ship-tracking data shows.

Solaris, a 140-feet vessel worth $600 million, was off the southwestern coast of Turkey and heading west, according to the tracking website MarineTraffic. On Monday, the website showed that the vessel's status changed to "scenic cruising" from "awaiting orders," the status it had shown since leaving Tivat, Montenegro, on March 13.

Georgios Hatzimanolis, a spokesperson for MarineTraffic, told Insider that though yachts and ships can change their status whenever they want, "most likely in this instance" Solaris is "using the status to confuse people from where its final destination is."

"Lots of speculation on if it will be Turkey, Israel, or even possibly the UAE," Hatzimanolis said.

The locations of luxury assets owned by Russian oligarchs have been closely monitored since sanctions were levied against many of the country's elite in response to Moscow's ordering troops into Ukraine. European countries including Italy and France have seized yachts, private jets, and other assets from several sanctioned oligarchs.

Abramovich, whose net worth is estimated at about $13.6 billion, according to Bloomberg, was sanctioned by the UK and the European Union, meaning his assets have been frozen and he's been barred from doing business there.

Solaris had been docked in the Barcelona shipyard of the Spanish yacht-maintenance firm MB92 since late 2021. It left on March 8, shortly before Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club, was sanctioned.

Before the announcement of sanctions, some of Russia's wealthiest people sought to move their expensive boats and private jets to jurisdictions where they might be able to protect them from seizure.

Abramovich's other superyacht, Eclipse, said to be worth $700 million, was just off the coast of Crete, a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea, on Monday, according to MarineTraffic. The yacht has been sailing since it left St. Martin in the Caribbean on February 21, the ship-tracking website shows.