putin yacht victoria

See inside President Vladimir Putin's opulent $100 million superyacht

• Russian President Vladimir Putin spent $32 million refitting a superyacht, a new report suggests.
• The yacht, called Graceful, was renovated while Russian soldiers were fighting in Ukraine.
• Photos of the vessel were shared by an investigation from dissident Alexei Navalny's team.

While his troops flooded into Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin was spending millions of dollars on an opulent refit of one of his superyachts, according to an investigation from opposition leader Alexei Navalny's team.

The imprisoned anti-corruption campaigner's team released plans for the yacht called Graceful and said to belong to Russian President Vladimir Putin, that show a helipad, a sauna, an indoor swimming pool that can convert into a dancefloor, and an elaborate dining room with seating for 12 people.

Photos of the lavishly decorated interior also show marble bathrooms, champagne-colored carpets that cost as much as $88,000, and lavish bedrooms containing beds worth around $34,000.

The investigation also shared pictures of an elegant bookcase that it said contained a photo album of Saint Petersburg, a Russian-German dictionary, and a book about former Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, assassinated in Ukraine in 1911.

The total cost of the works came to $32 million, according to the investigation.

"Half of the country is forced to raise money for underwear and socks for mobilized soldiers and to make trench candles, while the person who unleashed this war spends three billion roubles just on repairs and purchases for his yacht," the report says.

The 269-foot yacht, which left Hamburg, Germany , just before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is worth around $100 million.

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The Navalny team also published an email from January 2022 to the managers of the Blohm & Voss shipyard, which says that the "owner of Graceful is not happy with refit execution."

"They are dissatisfied with delays in construction schedule," it continues, before adding that the "owners wish to remove Graceful on 01 of February to Russian Federation to complete refit."

The message also mentions concerns about potential delays caused by rising COVID-19 cases and asks the shipbuilders to "accelerate all works which may interfere with Graceful sailing out on 01 February."

The ship was finally seen departing Hamburg on February 7 as it made its way to Kaliningrad, Russia.

The vessel has been under investigation by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control since last year.

"OFAC is identifying Russia-flagged Graceful and Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia, as blocked property in which President Vladimir Putin has an interest," the US Treasury website said in a June 2022 press release.

"While the leader of Russia, Putin has taken numerous trips on these yachts, including a 2021 trip in the Black Sea where he was joined by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the OFAC-designated corrupt ruler of Belarus, who has supported Russia's war against Ukraine," it adds.

The Navalny team also highlighted a phone shown in one of the photographs of an office on the yacht in which a "Prestige-CB" telephone can be seen.

The report says that these phones, which have no buttons and are decorated with the Russian coat of arms, are used for "top secret" state communications and cannot be bought by the general public. It adds that Putin has the same phone in all of his offices.

The Russian president is reportedly also the owner of the 450-foot, $700 million Scheherazade , one of the largest yachts in the world. The superyacht was impounded in an Italian port last year due to its connections to the Russian government.

Putin is also thought to be the owner of a smaller, Cayman Islands-flagged yacht called Olympia, a gift from the billionaire Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich.

Watch: Inside Putin's secret bunker and billion-dollar palace

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Vladimir Putin’s Superyacht Graceful Has A New Name: “Killer Whale”

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Vladimir Putin's yacht Kosatka, formerly named Graceful, off the coast of Estonia on September 25.

The Russian president’s superyacht was spotted off the coast of Estonia, escorted by a Russian Coast Guard vessel.

Vladimir Putin’s second-largest superyacht is on the move. More than seven months after hastily departing Germany for the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the Russian president’s $119 million, 267-foot Graceful was spotted off the coast of Estonia—with a new name.

Photos seen by Forbes that were taken on September 25 by Carl Groll, a contributing photographer for TheYachtPhoto.com, reveal that Graceful has a new name: Kosatka , Russian for “killer whale.” Forbes, which was tipped off by TheYachtPhoto.com’s managing director and longtime yacht watcher Peter Seyfferth, compared photos of Graceful available on yacht industry websites with the photo of Kosatka that appear to confirm the match.

The yacht was traveling northbound in the Baltic sea to the west of the Estonian island of Saaremaa; the pictures show it being escorted by an armed Russian Coast Guard vessel, possibly en route to St. Petersburg. It’s unclear when Graceful changed its name to Kosatka or when it departed Kaliningrad, a Russian territory sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland: the yacht’s transponder has been turned off since at least August 30, according to ship tracking service MarineTraffic, when it was still in Kaliningrad. A spokesperson for the Russian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kosatka —then named Graceful —departed the German port of Hamburg on February 7, seventeen days before Russian troops invaded Ukraine. It left for Russia after a five-month refit at the shipyards of Blohm+Voss, the company that built the yacht in 2014. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Graceful —along with three other yachts linked to Putin—on June 2.

Kosatka moored at the port of Sochi, Russia in July 2015, when it was still named Graceful and before its refit in 2022.

Registered in Russia, Kosatka features an indoor swimming pool that turns into a theater and a dance floor, a helipad and suites for up to 12 guests. The ship also boasts pool towel storage cabinets that double as vodka bars and an owner's suite with a wine cave that can store up to 400 bottles; the yacht was delivered to "her closely-collaborating owner" in 2014, according to Lürssen, which owns Blohm+Voss.

According to a BBC News investigation published in March, the yacht is currently owned by Moscow-based JSC Argument, which the U.S. Treasury sanctioned along with its sole shareholder, Andrei Gasilov, on June 2. The BBC investigation found that JSC Argument had in the past agreed to a loan from one of the management companies involved in the construction of "Putin's Palace,” an opulent, 190,000-square-foot estate near the resort town of Gelendzhik on the Black Sea coast. JSC Argument did not respond to phone calls for comment from the BBC.

According to yacht valuation experts VesselsValue and reporting from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Graceful was previously owned by British Virgin Islands-based Olneil Assets Corp. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned a company in the Cayman Islands with a similar name—O’Neill Assets Corporation—on June 2, for "having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Vladimir Putin."

Besides Kosatka , Putin has been linked to at least five more yachts: the $507 million, 459-foot Scheherazade , which is technically owned by oil & gas billionaire Eduard Khudainatov but is believed to be held on behalf of Putin ; the $22 million, 187-foot Olympia ; the $18 million, 177-foot Chayka , which means “seagull” in Russian; the $17 million, 151-foot Shellest; and the 105-foot Nega. Olympia and Kosatka , then named Graceful , were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury on June 2 as “blocked property in which President Vladimir Putin has an interest” while Shellest and Nega were targeted as “two additional yachts linked to Putin.” Altogether, Putin’s fleet of yachts is worth at least $680 million, according to VesselsValue.

Except for Scheherazade , which was frozen by Italian authorities in the port of Marina di Carrara on May 6 and recently re-registered to Malaysia, and Olympia , which is registered in the Cayman Islands, the other yachts are all registered in Russia. All of the other yachts, except for Scheherazade , also appear to be in Russia now: Olympia was last tracked in Lake Ladoga, near St. Petersburg, on July 31, 2021; Chayka was last tracked in the Black Sea port of Sochi on March 29, 2021; Shellest was last tracked off the coast of Gelendzhik on September 13; and Nega was last tracked in Lake Ladoga on August 14.

The links between the six yachts and the leader of the Kremlin are complex. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Eduard Khudainatov— a former CEO of Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft and a longtime associate of Igor Sechin, Rosneft’s current boss and Putin’s right-hand man —acted as a “clean, unsanctioned straw owner” for Scheherazade , owning it through Marshall Islands-based Bielor Assets Ltd. A spokesperson for Khudainatov did not respond to a request for comment regarding Scheherazade when Forbes reached out in June.

Olympia is owned by Cayman Islands-based Ironstone Marine Investments, which was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury on June 2. According to the U.S. Treasury, Shellest and Nega are owned by the Russia-based Non-Profit Partnership Revival of Maritime Traditions and its subsidiary LLC Gelios; both entities were sanctioned on June 2. Putin’s ties to Chayka are clearer: the yacht is owned directly by the Russian government, according to VesselsValue.

An investigation by OCCRP published in June shed light on the murky relationship between Putin and his yachts. The firms that own Shellest and Nega are tied to "LLCInvest," a network of interconnected companies and nonprofits that holds a collective $4.5 billion in assets, including Putin's palatial complex on the Black Sea. The group is also linked to another yacht, the $9 million, 121-foot Aldoga , owned by a firm held by Svetlana Krivonogikh, rumored to be the mother of one of Putin's daughters.

The investigation also revealed how Putin appears to use the yachts: Shellest makes frequent trips between Gelendzhik—the site of “Putin’s Palace”—and Sochi, while Nega travels between several homes owned by LLCInvest companies, including a villa known as the “Fisherman’s Hut” on Lake Ladoga and Villa Sellgren, a mansion on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. OCCRP reached out to more than 100 LLC Invest email addresses and made phone calls to five representatives of LLC Invest companies for comment; none of the emails received replies to the questions and four of the people called did not respond, while a fifth claimed he did not know who owned the companies.

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Another Putin yacht detected in a NATO country

A n investigative service, Dossier Center, has identified another yacht, marking the ninth, allegedly belonging to Putin in Istanbul. Named "Victoria", the yacht is valued at around $50.1 million and has been at the local shipyard since late October.

The Dossier Center reports that the yacht's construction began in 2005 at Severodvinsk's Sewmash defense plants. The building process wasn't completed until 2019. Formally, the ownership of the yacht is registered under the billionaire, and a close associate of Putin, Gennady Timchenko.

The creation of "Victoria" faced significant delays, compelling Timchenko to initiate other plans to maintain the president's trust. A source from the Dossier Center disclosed that Timchenko ordered another yacht, a 459-foot "Scheherazade" for Putin during this period.

Repairing for Putin, building for a NATO member

Despite all odds, Sewmash eventually constructed two yachts for Putin - "Victoria" and "Graceful".

The "Victoria" is being serviced at the Tuzla shipyard in Istanbul. The shipyard doesn't only offer repair services for superyachts, but it also builds warships for Turkey, a NATO member country.

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Two more superyachts discovered in Putin's possession

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Investigators at the Dossier Centre, founded by Russian political exile Mikhail Khodorkovsky, have discovered two more superyachts used by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle, bringing the Russian dictator's fleet to 10 yachts.

Source: Dossier

Details: The newly revealed yachts are the 71-metre Victoria and the 38-metre Orion, an escort vessel.

Orion yacht

PHOTO: DOSSIER CENTRE

Victoria was built at the shipyards of Russia's Sevmash military plant together with the Graceful yacht. She is currently undergoing repairs at a Turkish shipyard that prepares ships for the navy of NATO member Türkiye.

The Victoria yacht has been described as the flagship of Putin's Black Sea flotilla. The Victoria left Russia's Sochi port on 21 October and docked west of the Istanbul shipyard two days later. The vessel moved to the docks on early 25 October, switched off its AIS transmitter and ceased to appear on the maps of relevant services.

Yacht Victoria in the Turkish port of Tuzla in November 2023

The investigators managed to see the yacht using a drone. A distinctive feature of the ship, the massive letter V, was captured.

F or reference: Early in Putin's second presidential term, the Sevmash military plant, building nuclear submarines, including the modern fourth-generation Yasen and Borey projects, was involved in yacht construction.

The two yachts of the A-1331 project were the only ones produced by the military shipyard. The first one was Victoria, the preparation of which began in 2005, followed by Graceful, the building of which started in 2006.

Graceful took 8 years to build, whereas Victoria was completed in 14 years.

The contract with Sevmash was concluded by businessman Sergey Maslov's company, Julesburg Corp, located in the British Virgin Islands.

Sevmash reported successful testing at the end of 2013. The Victoria was taken to Italy, but the ISA Yachts shipyard never started work, so the vessel was moved to Türkiye in 2015.

The Victoria was completed at the Turkish shipyard AES Yachts on 24 July 2019.

The Victoria can take 28 people on board, but reports indicate that there are usually 11-15 crew members and up to six passengers on the vessel. The cost of the ship, as stated in the 2019 customs declaration, amounts to US$50.1 million. The same document describes the main technical specifications of the yacht, including its design feature: there are two master suites on board. The Graceful boat has as many master suites, and the Russian president's residences always have two separate bedrooms: one for the master and one for the mistress, Dossier noted.

Yacht interior

The Victoria is stationed in Sochi and periodically reaches Cape Idokopas, where Putin's palace lies. The vessel switches off its AIS and disappears from the radar just before the cape.

The vessel left Sochi for Crimea in the summer of 2021. The 38.5-metre Orion boat accompanied the yacht on this journey. It was developed in 2009 in Viareggio, Italy.

The Dossier Centre spotted the Victoria in Sochi in a photo posted on the account of Natalia Belugina, a rhythmic gymnast and choreographer of the Alina festival, organised annually by Alina Kabaeva, another Russian gymnast and Putin's mistress. Belugina is a friend of the latter, and they occasionally travel together. A source familiar with the athlete told Dossier that Kabaeva and her family indeed use the boat.

Quote from Dossier: "Vladimir Putin was never photographed on the Victoria, so there is no direct documentary evidence that the yacht belongs to him. However, as with other Russian president's yachts, there is plenty of indirect evidence: a specially selected crew, the ship's route, passing close to the presidential palace, the nominal owner, and the unusual construction history."

Details: After the arrest of the Scheherazade yacht in Italy, the Victoria reportedly became the largest Putin-related yacht in the Black Sea.

The same " southern flotilla " includes:

The €30 million 54-metre yacht Chaika (formerly Sirius), the only vessel on the balance sheet of the Russian Presidential Affairs Directorate. Putin met with Alexander Lukashenko on board the Chaika in May 2021.

The 46-metre yacht Shellest worth about US$23.9 million. The Shellest serves as a sailing vessel to get to Putin's palace on Cape Idokopas and has been sailing between Russia's Sochi and Gelendzhik since November 2022.

Putin's flagship in the Baltic Sea is the Graceful. The " northern flotilla " also includes:

37-metre Aldoga, completed in Viareggio in 2009. The exact cost of the yacht is unknown; similar ships cost US$14-16 million.

32-metre Nega, built in 2013 by the UK company Princess Yachts, costing US$12.2 million.

a Brizo 46 model boat worth just under US$1.2 million, assigned to Graceful.

Yachts related to Putin

Background: In May 2022, reports emerged that the Italian authorities had ordered the arrest of the 140-metre superyacht Scheherazade, whose owner is believed to be Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the port of Marina di Carrara.

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Helipads, Wine Cave: All About Vladimir Putin's $1 Billion Superyacht Fleet

Two of these superyachts, linked to the russian president, were recently tracked down in istanbul..

Victoria, one of the 10 superyachts that was spotted in Istanbul.

Two superyachts believed to be linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle have been tracked down in Istanbul. According to Kyiv Post , the newly discovered yachts are the 71-meter Victoria, valued at over $50 million, and its "escort" the 38-meter Orion, worth $15 million. This brings the number of such vessels belonging to the Russian leader's "fleet" so far discovered to 10. 

The ship is officially registered to companies associated with Russian oligarch Gennady Timchenko, who is a close personal friend of Vladimir Putin. According to The Sun , the $50 million yacht features wooden flooring and high round ceilings. It has a huge circular bed with a ceiling mirror. Its furniture fittings and baubles also include towels costing over $2,000, chess and backgammon sets valued at over $5,000 and 60-inch TV sets housed in mahogany cases.

Scheherazade

The construction of the yacht began in 2005. In total, Victoria was completed in 14 years and the delays in the ship's construction led Mr Timchenko to commission the construction of an even larger yacht for Mr Putin, the 140-meter-long Scheherazade, which was seized by Italian authorities in the port of Marina di Carrara in May 2022.

Scheherazade, worth an estimated $700 million, is believed to be Mr Putin's most expensive superyacht. The 140-metre yacht features two helipads, a swimming pool and a movie theatre, according to the SuperYachtFan website, which researches yachts and their owners. The excessive superyacht is almost entirely covered in gold - even toilet roll holders.

Victoria was built at the shipyards of Russia's Sevmash military plant together with the Graceful yacht. According to The Sun , the 267-foot vessel, also called Killer Whale, costs $119 million. It features an indoor swimming pool that turns into a theatre and a dance floor, a helipad and suites for up to 12 guests. As per Forbes , the ship also features pool towel storage cabinets that double as vodka bars and an owner's suite with a wine cave that can store up to 400 bottles. 

Olympia 

This superyacht is said to be Vladimir Putin's favourite. The 187-foot vessel reportedly has an estimated cost of $22 million. According to The Sun, it is rumoured to have been a gift from Roman Abramovich. The vessel's interior is styled by design house Mark Hampton.

The Chayka is also known as The Seagull. The $18 million, 177-foot vessel boasts a jacuzzi, gym, beach club, barbecue area and pool. It also comes with a jet ski, diving and fishing gear.

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Kavkaz 

The Kavkaz was built by Almaz Marine Yard in Russia. It can accommodate up to 10 guests in 5 suites.

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Putin Linked To Two More Superyachts: Report

That brings his total to 10 yachts, which is arguably too many yachts for one person to own.

When he’s not busy getting innocent people in Ukraine killed because he started an unnecessary war he’s now unlikely to ever win, Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to relax on a collection of superyachts , a collection that has apparently grown by two.

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Dossier Centre investigators found the yachts that it believes are used by Putin and people in his inner circle, Yahoo reports . The first is the Victoria, a 233-foot-long superyacht that was built at Russia’s Sevmash military facility and is currently being repaired at a Turkish shipyard. The second is the 125-foot Orion that reportedly serves as an escort vehicle.

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The Victoria took 14 years to build and cost more than $50 million, Yahoo reports. It has the capacity to hold up to 28 people, but that usually includes a crew of between 11 and 15. When investigating the yacht with a drone, the Dossier Centre spotted a large V displayed on board. While the Victoria is usually stationed in Sochi, it reportedly travels to Cape Idokopas where Putin has a palace, although it is said to turn off its automatic identification system before it reaches the cape.

Proving that Putin actually owns his yachts can be a difficult task, as it’s believed he uses legal trickery to make it all but impossible to find a direct link between his yachts and himself. By using shell companies owned by other shell companies , Russian oligarchs create all kinds of obstacles for investigators attempting to determine who owns what yacht. It also appears that Putin “borrows” yachts from fellow wealthy Russians.

Social media, however, can be an incredibly useful tool. The Victoria was recently spotted in an Instagram post from Natalia Belugina, a gymnast and choreographer who is known to be friends with Alina Kabaeva who is also a gymnast and said to be Putin’s mistress. A source also claimed that Kabaeva and her family regularly use the yacht.

In a statement, Dossier said, “Vladimir Putin was never photographed on the Victoria, so there is no direct documentary evidence that the yacht belongs to him. However, as with other Russian president’s yachts, there is plenty of indirect evidence: a specially selected crew, the ship’s route, passing close to the presidential palace, the nominal owner, and the unusual construction history.”

While the Victoria is impressively large, it still pales in comparison to the $700 million, 459-foot-long Scheherazade , which was seized by Italian authorities back in 2022.

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U.S. Officials Say Superyacht Could be Putin’s

They say they have indications that the $700 million, 459-foot yacht, which is in dry dock in Italy, is associated with the Russian president, backing an earlier claim by a former crew member.

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By Julian E. Barnes ,  Michael Forsythe ,  David D. Kirkpatrick and Jason Horowitz

• March 11, 2022

WASHINGTON — American officials are examining the ownership of a $700 million superyacht currently in a dry dock at an Italian seacoast town, and believe it could be associated with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, according to multiple people briefed on the information.

United States intelligence agencies have made no final conclusions about the ownership of the superyacht — called the Scheherazade — but American officials said they had found initial indications that it was linked to Mr. Putin. The information from the U.S. officials came after The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Italian authorities were looking into the 459-foot long vessel’s ownership and that a former crew member said it was for the use of Mr. Putin.

People briefed on the intelligence would not describe what information they had that indicated the superyacht is associated with Mr. Putin. If American officials know whether or how often Mr. Putin uses the yacht, the people briefed on the information would not share it.

American officials said Mr. Putin kept little of his wealth in his own name. Instead he uses homes and boats nominally owned by Russian oligarchs. Still, it is possible that through various shell companies, Mr. Putin could have more direct control of the Scheherazade.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic Mr. Putin has also spent large amounts of time in the Russian resort city of Sochi on the Black Sea, U.S. officials said. The Scheherazade made trips to Sochi in the summers of 2020 and 2021.

Both the Treasury Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis and the Navy’s Office of Naval Intelligence are investigating the ownership of superyachts associated with Russian oligarchs. A spokesman for the Navy and a spokeswoman for the Treasury both declined to comment.

The Justice Department has set up a task force to go after the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs. In a discussion with reporters on Friday, a Justice Department official said the task force would be investigating individuals who help sanctioned Russian officials or oligarchs hide their assets. Those individuals could face charges related to sanctions violations or international money laundering charges.

In addition, under recently published Commerce Department rule changes, if more than 25 percent of a plane or a yacht is made of U.S.-manufactured airplane or marine parts, it cannot go to Russia.

If a yacht is in a foreign country and meets the definition of a U.S.-origin or U.S.-made product, it would need a license to go to Russia. To actually seize a yacht, the United States would need to coordinate with a cooperative foreign government — Italy, in the case of the Scheherazade — to prevent the ship from moving to Russian waters.

Some superyachts moved out of European waters as the invasion of Ukraine began and the West began imposing sanctions allowing asset seizures. The Scheherazade is undergoing repairs in Marina di Carrara, a port in Tuscany, and as of earlier this week was in dry dock, unable to get underway.

Guy Bennett-Pearce, the Scheherazade’s captain, said earlier this week that Mr. Putin was not the owner of the superyacht and that the Russian president had not set foot on it.

He declined to give the name of the owner, saying on Monday only that it was not anyone facing sanctions. Captain Bennett-Pearce did not answer his phone on Friday or respond to a text message.

Last week, Italian authorities boarded the Scheherazade and examined certification documents, seeking to learn more about the vessel’s ownership. Captain Bennett-Pearce said earlier this week that he would provide the Italian police with documents that divulged the yacht’s owner.

Italian authorities said they were taking a deep look at the Scheherazade. Under a process that may take as long as a couple of weeks, Italy’s financial police will gather evidence and present it to a government committee, which will then decide whether ownership or use of the ship is connected to someone on the sanctions list.

That connection could be outright ownership of a significant portion of the ship, or evidence that a friend, underling or associate lent his or her name to hide the sanctioned person’s ownership, or that funds used to buy the ship came from illegal profits. If the committee finds that the evidence meets the threshold, the financial police can impound the Scheherazade.

The Italian Sea Group , which owns the shipyard where the Scheherazade is dry-docked, said in a statement on Thursday that based on documents it had and “checks carried out by the relevant authorities,” the Scheherazade “is not attributable to the property of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

American officials have been stepping up their examination of the superyachts of Russian oligarchs, particularly as the United States and Europe have imposed more sanctions against the wealthy families that support Mr. Putin.

The German-built Scheherazade has been in service since June 2020. The website SuperYachtFan estimated that it cost $700 million. The ship has a full-size gym, two helicopter decks and gold-plated fixtures in the washrooms.

While American intelligence officials have been looking at the Scheherazade, the scrutiny has increased after the publication of the earlier article in The Times.

The Scheherazade appears to have a sister ship, the Crescent , built by the same German manufacturer and put into service in 2018. The Crescent’s project name when it was under construction was “ Thunder. ” The Scheherazade’s was “ Lightning .”

Like the Scheherazade, there is no public information identifying the ship’s owner, other than an offshore shell company. The Crescent last broadcast its position on Nov. 2, when it appeared to be approaching Barcelona, Spain. Satellite images show that as of March 4 it was moored at a marina catering to superyachts near there. Both vessels are registered in the Cayman Islands and both share the same designer .

Katie Benner contributed reporting from Washington, Christoph Koettl from New York, and Gaia Pianigiani from Siena, Italy.

Julian E. Barnes is a national security reporter based in Washington, covering the intelligence agencies. Before joining The Times in 2018, he wrote about security matters for The Wall Street Journal. More about Julian E. Barnes

Michael Forsythe is a reporter on the investigations team. He was previously a correspondent in Hong Kong, covering the intersection of money and politics in China. He has also worked at Bloomberg News and is a United States Navy veteran. More about Michael Forsythe

David D. Kirkpatrick is an investigative reporter based in New York and the author of “Into the Hands of the Soldiers: Freedom and Chaos in Egypt and the Middle East.“ In 2020 he shared a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on covert Russian interference in other governments and as the Cairo bureau chief from 2011 to 2015 he led coverage of the Arab Spring uprisings. More about David D. Kirkpatrick

Jason Horowitz is the Rome bureau chief, covering Italy, the Vatican, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe. He previously covered the 2016 presidential campaign, the Obama administration and Congress, with an emphasis on political profiles and features. More about Jason Horowitz

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

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