A superyacht belonging to a close ally of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, will be allowed to dock in Cape Town, despite opposition from the City of Cape Town.
The yacht, worth over $500 million, belongs to Alexei Mordashov, who made his money from steel and is believed to be the second-richest man in Russia, with a net worth of over $21 billion. It left Hong Kong earlier this week and is en route to the Cape.
In a statement the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said he was requesting the government to refuse permission for the yacht to dock in Cape Town as well as to refuse Mordashov entry into South Africa.
However, the national government said that it saw no need to refuse the yacht entry and that South Africa was not bound by EU and US sanctions against Russians.
A spokesperson for Mordashov said that he was not on the yacht and was currently in Moscow.
Image by Lisa Larsen from Pixabay