The day after the United States warned Hong Kong about being a safe haven for sanctioned individuals, the island’s chief executive says there’s “no legal basis” to enforce sanctions from abroad. It comes in response to calls to arrest the superyacht Nord.
Alexei Mordashov, a steel magnate widely believed to own the yacht, is currently under sanctions from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Each took action following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Notably, shortly after the sanctions took place, Italy arrested Lady M, another yacht belonging to Mordashov. The superyacht Nord, however, has eluded any government measures thus far. She departed the Seychelles in early March, for instance, arrivingin Kaliningrad, Russia mid-month. The 465-foot (141.6-meter) megayacht left Kaliningrad in late September, arriving in Hong Kong on October 5.
A spokesperson for Mordashov has declined to comment about the yacht’s presence in Hong Kong. Our own inquiry to Lodestone Yachts, which reportedly is assisting Nord while there, has gone unanswered.
This week, the U.S. State Department indicated Hong Kong’s financial-hub status could be in jeopardy by allowing the superyacht Nord to remain there. “The possible use of Hong Kong as a safe haven by individuals evading sanctions from multiple jurisdictions further calls into question the transparency of the business environment,” a State Department spokesperson tells the AFP wire service. “Hong Kong’s reputation as a financial center depends on adherence to international laws and standards.”
However, Lee says that sanctions from other countries or blocs don’t apply. (On a related note, China has not condemned the Ukranian invasion.) “A particular country, because of that country’s own consideration, decides to take any measures against anything, that is that country’s decision,” he says. Furthermore, he adds, the island complies with United Nations resolutions on sanctions. “That is our system,” he explains, “that is our rule of law.” Lee goes on to additionally state, “We cannot do and we will not do anything that has no legal basis.”
Likened to “a warship wearing a tuxedo,” Nord was one the largest yacht deliveries of 2021.
Mark Seidenberg
The Moscow Times of 17 July 2025, has reported that the Nord has permission from GlavSevMorPut to ply routes between Wrangell Island and Herald Island in the Arctic Ocean between 1 August – 30 September 2025. A question is why GlavSevMorPut is giving permission for the Nord to operate between Wrangell Island (alternative known as “New Columbia” between 12 August 1881 – 29 July 1901) and Herald Island, because both locations are in Alaska, and have been in Alaska since 17 May 1884.
It was on 2 or 3 June 1881, that a landing party from the USS Jennette landed at Cape Melville, Henrietta Island and annexed the Jeannette Group of islands in the name of YHVH, POTUS, and the SecNav, with three cheers and an American Tiger. The Jeannette Group consisted of three islands, viz., Henrietta, Herald, and Jeannette. George Wallace Melville, USN, led the landing party to annex by formal possession.
It was on 12 August 1881, that a landing party from the USRM Thomas Corwin at Cape Corwin, New Columbia Land an annexed that land in the name of YHVH, POTUS, and the Secretary of the Treasury, with three cheers and an American Tiger.
On 17 December 1883 a meeting took place between United States Senator Benjamin Harrison (Chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories) and Major Ezra W. Clark, Jr., USV (ret.) who was both the Chief of the United States Revenue Marine and the lawyer of the Alaska Board at the United States Department of the Treasury. The meeting took place in Room 42 at the United States Capitol. The meeting was call by Harrison, because of the a 9/0 ruling that day in the case of Ex Parte Kan-Gi-Shun-Ca, 105 U.S. 556, 3 Sc.Ct. 396, 27 L.Ed. 1030. The issue was create a bill for the first organic act for Alaska. Harrison wanted to add land to Alaska that was not included in the Alaska Treaty of 30 March 1867, n.s., therefore the bill submitted on 18 December 1883, included a lands “known as Alaska”. POTUS Chester Arthur signed the Harrison Alaska Organic Act into law on 17 May 1884, and the Alaska Board declared six islands “know as Alaska”, viz., Bennett, Forrester, Henrietta, Herald, Jeannette, and Wrangell on that same day. Thereby causing governmental economy by using the Alaska Courts to cover these six islands that were excluded from the territory in the Department of Alaska.
It was on 1 April 1924, that the Lomen Brothers of Nome, Alaska went on title to the whole island named Wrangell Island, an island determined have any area in the ballpark of 2,984 square miles by Dr. Franz Meyers of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in January 2025. Also in 1924, Herald Island went on title to Captain Louis L. Lane of Nome, Alaska. Herald Island is in the Arctic Ocean to the east of Wrangell Island. The movie “Eskimo” was shot on Herald Island in 1932, starring Ray Mala.
The question now is what the United States Coast Guard will do with the Nord when it does a landing at Wrangell Island this summer?
Diane M. Byrne
According to U.S. State Department fact sheets, the United States doesn’t consider Wrangel Island or Herald Island American territory. The most recent fact sheet, released in 2009, indicates, “The U.S.-USSR Maritime Boundary Agreement was signed in 1990. The negotiations that led to that agreement did not address the status of Wrangel Island, Herald Island, Bennett Island, Jeannette Island, or Henrietta Island, all of which lie off Russia’s Arctic coast, or Mednyy (Copper) Island or rocks off the coast of Mednyy Island in the Bering Sea. None of the islands or rocks above were included in the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, and they have never been claimed by the United States, although Americans were involved in the discovery and exploration of some of them.” Although no subsequent fact sheets confirming or changing this stance have been issued, a State Department spokesperson reiterated the comments to Newsweek for a November 2022 article.