Superyacht under watch

An Italian police patrol boat and helicopter are keeping a close eye on a $700 million (NZ$1.1 billion) yacht impounded in Tuscany that has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Close surveillancewas carried out over theweekend on the Scheherazade after it was impounded on Saturday at the port of Carrara by tax police officers in the belief that the vesselwas about to flee Italy. Italian media reports have claimed that the owner – on paper – is Eduard Khudainatov, a former chief of the Russian energy firm Rosneft. However, researchers working for jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny have said that the yacht really belongs to Putin.