"Let Them Row Home" — The Crew Of A Russian Oligarch's SuperYacht Is Fishing Off The Decks For Food Because Nobody In Norway Will Sell Them Any Fuel To Get Home
AFP. Getty Images.NY POST — The crew of a stranded superyacht linked to a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly spending its time catching fresh fish to eat while trapped at port in Norway — where locals have refused to refuel the vessel.
The $85 million yacht, the Ragnar, has been stuck in the port city of Narvik for days while locals shun its requests for the fuel it needs to depart.
The boat is owned by Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, a former KGB intelligence officer and Putin crony who once helmed the Russian mining firm Norilsk Nickel.
There is a humanitarian disaster developing overseas, a large group of people left stranded with limited access to food, unable to return home. I'm speaking of course about the crew of The Ragnar, the 223-foot superyacht belonging to billionaire Russian oligarch and ex-KGB agent Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, stuck off the coast of Norway because nobody in the local population will sell them any fuel to sail home.
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND. Getty Images.
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND. Getty Images."Let them row home," a local supplier told NRK. He and others say they want to support Ukraine.
They have reportedly been forced to fish for their own food, like the peasant crew of a regular-yacht. I would assume that if the locals have all unanimously refused to sell extremely expensive oil to the crew of a megayacht, they haven't been in any hurry to provide them with… ("Siri, what is a popular food of Norway?")… Fårikål, a Norwegian Lamb & Cabbage Stew.
(mmmmmmm)
Shutterstock Images.The captain of the 225-foot long superyacht thinks this whole thing is "extremely unjust discrimination." They "did not realize why there was such a fuss" with them. When, presumably after a reporter filled them in on his hunch, they realized it was maybe because of the invas…special military operation, they basically said "Oh, that old thing?" That all just "happened so quickly."
So, in the harbors of Norway they sit. But the Western Media doesn't want to cover their plight. We've seen wall-to-wall coverage of the women and children of Ukraine forced to flee their homes — yet all they had to do was walk 30 kilometers or so in subfreezing temperatures while dodging artillery shells that kept accidentally missing the legitimate military targets they were definitely aimed at and unluckily landing in the middle of a humanitarian corridor. The crew of The Ragnar meanwhile has no such luxuries.
The 68-meter (223 feet) Ragnar was custom-built on the hull of a former service ship capable of pushing its way through ice.
Part of its bespoke interior evokes a cozy British pub, according to a profile in Boat International.
…its amenities include "a BigBo amphibious ATV, heli-skiing equipment, four See-Doos, four ski scooters, six Seabobs, a multipurpose island and a giant slide."
Stuck on this dinky old houseboat like a divorced dad, praying for a tug on their line so they can eat herring that definitely isn't even pickled. No word on if they've started to row.