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A MYSTERIOUS superyacht worth an eyewatering £532million has been swarmed by Italian officials amid rumours it belongs to warmongering Vladimir Putin.
Authorities are demanding proof of ownership of the luxury vessel, Scheherazade, as they probe whether to seize it under sanctions imposed against Russia as the bloody war in Ukraine rages on.
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The 459-foot superyacht – one of the most expensive in the world – is moored at the Italian Sea Group shipyard in Marina di Carrara and has been dubbed “Putin’s yacht” by locals.
Since its launch in 2020, its ownership has remained a complete secret.
It reportedly boasts a swimming pool that converts into a dance floor, gold-plated fixtures, two helicopter decks and several satellite domes.
But amid moves to seize superyachts belonging to Russian oligarchs, the Scheherazade’s captain Guy Bennett-Pearce has confirmed Italian investigations boarded the vessel in a bid to uncover its true owner.
“They are looking hard. They are looking at every aspect,” he told the New York Times.
“This isn’t the local coppers coming down, these are men in dark suits.”
He told the outlet he had “no choice” but to this week hand over documents revealing the owner’s identity to investigators.
A source told The Times the probe is being led by Italian financial police.
Retired clerk Ernesto Rossi said: “Everybody calls it Putin’s yacht.
“It’s a rumour that’s been going around for months.”
Bennett-Pearce – who said the superyacht’s crew is 70 per cent Russian – admitted he’d heard the whispers – but said he was bound by a “watertight nondisclosure agreement” that stopped him revealing the owner.
But he denied the vessel belongs to Putin or that the Kremlin has ever been aboard, telling the outlet: “I have never seen him. I have never met him.”
He said authorities had come on board to examine certification documents and planned to hand over paperwork.
“I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that this will clear the vessel of all negative rumours and speculations,” the captain added.
Last week, the Sun reported that a superyacht belonging to Putin ally Igor Sechin had been seized by French authorities.
They announced on March 3 that the mammoth vessel, nicknamed “Amore Vero”, or True Love, was being held in the port of La Ciotat.
It came after Alisher Usmanov had his £600million luxury vessel – thought to be largest yacht in the world in terms of internal volume – taken away by German authorities.
Usmanov had already been slapped with an EU travel ban and had his assets frozen as part of the tough EU sanctions.
Russia’s richest man, Alexei Mordashov, was the next to fall after his £45 million ship was seized by Italian cops at the northern harbour of Imperia.
It comes as:
The steel billionaire was believed to be in the Seychelles this week after reportedly sailing from the Maldives.
It comes as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine escalates into its third week – with at least three people killed including a young girl after a Russian airstrike destroyed a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol.
President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the hospital suffered a “direct strike” and children were left buried under the rubble on Wednesday afternoon, branding the attack as an act of “genocide”.
Women waiting to give birth were wounded in the strike, while children were buried in the rubble.
Pictures show an enormous crater left by the shelling, as explosions blew out windows and destroyed much of the front of the building.
Russia’s invasion has stalled as Putin is thought to have believed he could have rolled over the country in 48 hours.
His soldiers expected to be welcomed with flowers as liberators, but instead they were met with molotov cocktails and AK-47s.
Moscow is believed to have suffered staggering losses – with as many as 12,000 troops killed and thousands of vehicles destroyed.
Pictures show Ukraine is now littered with the burnt out remains of Russian military convoys as they come under attack from all sides.
Western nations have also imposed biting new sanctions on Russia, pushing mad tyrant Putin’s regime towards total economic collapse.
Despite this however – the advance is grinding forward at a slow pace towards the capital Kyiv.
Kyiv is believed to be Putin’s main objective, where they will kill President Zelenskyy and install a puppet government which would be pro-Russia.
Peace talks continue – but the Kremlin has issued a list demands that Zelenskyy will never be able to accept.
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