Concerns have been raised over the appearance of a superyacht owned by a Russian multi-millionaire with Maltese citizenship in Malta. 

Publicly available data shows that Polaris, a 70-metre superyacht owned by Maxim Shubarev, arrived in the Grand Harbour on Friday morning. 

Shubarev is behind construction firm Setl Group and has a net worth of $500 million. He is not part of a sanctions list dished out by the EU against Russian oligarchs. 

However, the arrival comes just days after European Parliament President Roberta Metsola urged to stop letting “Russian superyachts into our harbours”.

Malta’s government has been facing serious questions over ties to Russia in recent days, particularly over the country’s controversial passport selling programme. The scheme has been stopped to Russians and Belarussians; however, this came after intense public pressure. 

Shubarev purchased Maltese citizenship in 2018. Malta has also one of the largest yachting registries in the world. 

What do you think of the superyacht’s arrival in Malta?