Dismissals in Croatia over 'disappearance' of seized Russian yacht

(Patria) - Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković dismissed three people within his department whom he considers responsible for the illegal departure of a Russian yacht from a Croatian port towards international waters, despite it being under sanctions.

An internal investigation conducted within the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure showed that certain omissions were made during the unimpeded departure of the seized and sealed Russian yacht, which was dry-docked at the Betina shipyard, Butković reported before a government session. 

Butković stated that the first omission occurred during the sealing and supervision of the Russian yacht “Irina Vu” which was supposed to be sealed in July last year, and the second omission is related to the failure to provide information to all port authorities.

The minister confirmed that the yacht reported to the Port Authority in Dubrovnik upon departure, from which the crew obtained permission to leave Croatian territorial waters, as the authority “had no knowledge that there were yachts in Croatia that were blocked and sealed”.

“As the Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, I take full responsibility and have made personnel decisions. I dismissed the head of the maritime safety sector who was supposed to inform all port authorities, the harbor master in Šibenik who was responsible for supervising the yacht, and the head of the branch office in Betina. I spoke with these people, they did not do it intentionally. This is a combination of circumstances, a mistake that happened to them,” Butković claims.

He added that after this incident, supervision of other yachts that have been sealed and blocked has been intensified.

The Russian yacht “Irina Vu”, which is one of a total of five Russian yachts seized and sealed in Croatia by decisions of competent authorities, left the port of Betina in early October, where it was dry-docked.

The yacht, owned by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, sailed towards the open sea and is currently in Turkey. The case only became known in mid-January this year after Croatian media uncovered the entire affair.