On Monday in Mallorca, Spain, the U.S. government seized a 254-foot yacht linked to Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally of Vladimir Putin. This was the first such capture for the Biden administration under its own sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. It's one of several recent developments that drive home the outsize influence that the assets of the uber-rich have on both international diplomacy — and climate change.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we've seen world leaders repeatedly use the tactic of appealing to the interests of the super rich to further their own agendas. On Sunday evening, for example, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the glamorous attendees of the Grammy Awards ceremony to urge them to support stronger sanctions against Russia. And over the past month, a number of international governments have worked to ban billionaire Russian oligarchs from their borders and to seize their most valuable assets, in hopes that they will demand Vladimir Putin put an end to the war so that they can get their yachts back.
