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Russian oligarch’s superyacht stuck in Norway as no one will refuel it

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Russian oligarch’s superyacht stuck in Norway as no one will refuel it
The boat, which local suppliers have refused to sell fuel to, has been in Narvik since February. Pictured is Narvik's coastline. Photo by Hermie Divina from Pexels

A superyacht owned by an oligarch, who has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been unable to leave a port in Narvik, northern Norway, because local suppliers refuse to sell the vessel fuel. 

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The Ragnar, a superyacht owned by Russian oligarch Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, a former KGB agent who has long been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been left stuck in Narvik, northern Norway, as no one in the port will sell fuel to the vessel. 

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The yacht arrived at the port of Narvik on February 15th, according to shipping website MarineTraffic and had been due to leave port last week, according to the ship’s captain. 

However, the yacht has been left stuck in the port as local suppliers refuse to sell the vessel fuel. 

“We want to leave Narvik. We wanted to travel last week, but no suppliers want to sell us fuel, so now we are blocked here,” the ship’s captain Rob Lancaster told public broadcaster NRK

“The local suppliers say that they will not offer it to us. We explained that we are not on the sanctions list, that we are sailing under the Maltese flag and that we are not a Russian crew, but no one will listen to us,” Lancaster added. 

The owner of the 68-metre ship, Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who reportedly made his fortune in nickel mining, is currently not on any sanctions lists and is not aboard the vessel.

In a notice he put up in the port, Lancaster said that the decision to refuse to sell fuel to the Ragnar was discriminatory. 

One of the local fuel suppliers who have refused to refuel the vessel told NRK that the crew of the Ragnar can “row home”. 

Narvik’s mayor, Rune Edvardsen, said that there was little he could do to help. 

“I understand that it is challenging (for the Ragnar) to buy fuel, but there is nothing I, as mayor, can influence. Many suppliers probably fear being subjected to sanctions. This is a situation that the Norwegian authorities and the EU must resolve,” Edvardsen. 

Lancaster said that the Ragnar was a commercial charter yacht in Narvik for winter tourism, but customers who had chartered the ship for a tour of Greenland and Svalbard were no shows. 

The ship’s captain said that the original plan to travel to Greenland and Svalbard had been scrapped and that the crew would return to Malta once the boat had fuel again. 

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