CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The port of Cape Town is ideally suited to host a $500 million superyacht connected to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov, a South African official said Wednesday, after the country announced plans to allow the ship to dock there despite an offer through the city’s mayor to block its entry.
The South African government made the announcement Tuesday as wealthy metalhead and miner Alexey Mordashov seeks a new port for the seizure’s superyacht.
The official said Cape Town was in the best interest of the North as it has the technical means for luxury yachts that many other ports do not have.
“If you park a $500 million asset, you want it to be well maintained,” the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, said Tuesday that there is “no reason” for South Africa to refuse access to the North because Mordashov is not subject to United Nations sanctions, only sanctions imposed unilaterally by the United States and the European Union.
The North, which departed Hong Kong for an adventure across the Indian Ocean to South Africa last week, could dock at Cape Town port as long as the other people on board “respect our immigration laws,” Magwenya said.
Mordashov is believed to be aboard the yacht.
“Currently, there are no sanctions imposed through the UN on the individual in question and therefore South Africa has no legal responsibility to comply with the sanctions that the US has imposed on the sanctions. “The US and EU have to impose in express jurisdictions,” Magwenya told reporters in the South African capital, Pretoria.
Mordashov is believed to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been sanctioned by the US. The US and the EU because of the war in Ukraine. He is the largest shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia’s largest mining and metals company, and one of Russia’s richest men, with a net of more than $20 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said Mordashov had benefited financially from the war in Ukraine and was “complicit in the unconscionable crimes committed against Ukrainian civilians. “a reaction from President Ramaphosa’s spokesman.
South Africa has taken an impartial stance on the war in Ukraine, frustrating Western partners who hoped that Africa’s most advanced economy would also condemn Russia’s invasion and act as a leading voice for the continent. South Africa abstained in a UN vote condemning Russia’s moves. and called for discussion and diplomacy.
Hill-Lewis is a member of South Africa’s opposition party, which has harshly criticized the impartial stance taken by Ramaphosa’s government.
“It must be said that, so far, the conduct of our country’s foreign policy in connection with Russia’s illegal imperialist war has been nothing short of shameful,” Hill-Lewis said.
The North flies the Russian flag, is 141. 6 meters (465 feet) long and has two helipads, a swimming pool and 20 cabins. He left Hong Kong after the United States accused the city of functioning as a haven for sanctioned people. It will arrive in Cape Town on November 9, according to the Marine Traffic expedition.
The yacht’s fate has changed since it arrived in Hong Kong from Vladivostok, Russia, earlier this month, prompting a diplomatic row between the U. S. governments and the U. S. government. The U. S. and Hong Kong government on the application of sanctions.
Russian oligarchs have been suitable ports for their luxury yachts since they were subject to U. S. and European sanctions similar to the war in Ukraine. Some have also discovered new homes in Turkey, which has maintained diplomatic relations with Russia.