Putin's superyacht Graceful to sail through UK waters with major escort
Putin's 'love nest' superyacht Graceful to sail through UK waters with major escort
The 267-foot floating palace, linked to Putin's glamorous partner "Tsarina" Alina Kabaeva, 43, is reportedly heading through UK waters towards the Mediterranean
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Add us as preferred source Comments By Will Stewart, Michael D. Carroll 00:38, Wed, Jul 1, 2026 Updated: 00:45, Wed, Jul 1, 2026 
Vladimir Putin's "love nest" superyacht Graceful is set to cruise past Britain, accompanied by a Russian naval destroyer.
The 267-foot floating palace is understood to be a favourite of his glamorous partner, "Tsarina" Alina Kabaeva, 43, the gymnast mother of his two underage sons.
One possibility is that the superyacht is bound for Turkey to serve as a holiday retreat for Putin's family, enabling them to escape the continuous Ukrainian strikes and severe fuel shortages, which are making this a summer of misery for Russians.
Another elite Putin yacht - the 233-foot Victoria, worth $45 million with extravagant and ostentatious interiors - departed the Black Sea this week, travelling through the Bosphorus, and is currently sailing towards the Turkish resort Bodrum.
It features "two master cabins," potentially for Putin and Kabaeva, with photographs suggesting the dictator sleeps in a round bed with a ceiling mirror.
Graceful is travelling from the Skagerrak, between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, into the North Sea and eventually to the Mediterranean.
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Referred to in Russia as Kosatka, or Killer Whale, it is accompanied by the Russian warship Severomorsk to prevent Western nations from boarding and seizing the superyacht and the "rescue vessel" Voevoda. They are heading for Istanbul.
The convoy is anticipated to pass the coast of Britain, likely via the English Channel, although some Russian vessels are presently taking the extended route around the British Isles. Both Danish and German maritime authorities kept a close watch on the unusual convoy as it made its way through the Baltic Sea.
Previously, the Graceful had vanished from tracking systems for three years during Putin's war against Ukraine.
After Danish media outlets detected it via transponder signals, the vessel deactivated its AIS system to minimise its visibility.
The Graceful has been connected to Putin, 73, and his family for a number of years, and is crewed by FSO presidential security officers, according to investigators.
It has never been officially declared in Russia as his yacht.
The superyacht is sanctioned by the U.S. but not apparently by Britain or the EU.
In 2021, the Graceful was dispatched to Hamburg for repairs, but in early February 2022, as the conflict loomed, it was hastily transferred to the Russian Baltic port of Kaliningrad, according to the team of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The accompanying warship Severomorsk is a Udaloy-class guided-missile destroyer.
The Voevoda is a "special dual-purpose ship" that can act as a "yacht for high-ranking individuals."
It functions as an escort vessel, providing security, logistics, and support for VIP ships.
This is believed to be the first occasion the sleek white Graceful has activated its transponder since 2022.
The prestigious vessel is thought to have been utilised by Kabaeva and, on occasion, Putin in the Gulf of Finland throughout the war.
Its construction involved offshore companies allegedly tied to Putin's network. In May 2021, Putin welcomed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko aboard Graceful during a Black Sea voyage near Sochi.
The Victoria is understood to feature a television system "with a connected package of channels for children."
Putin and Kabaeva have two children, Ivan, 11, and Vladimir, 7, who receive their education from governesses and tutors originating from NATO countries, including Britain.
14 House Republicans vote down procedural rule over 'SAVE America Act,' halting week's legislative calendar
OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
4:00 PM – Tuesday, June 30, 2026
A coalition of fourteen House Republicans paralyzed the legislative floor on Tuesday, tanking a procedural vote and forcing GOP leadership to abruptly scrap the week’s legislative calendar.
The coalition, led by Representatives Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), choked off legislative business as conservative holdouts dug in on demands for stricter federal voting regulations — specifically targeting the passage of the SAVE America Act.
The full list of the 14 Republicans includes:
- Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) — Coalition co-leader
- Chip Roy (R-Texas) — Coalition co-leader
- Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.)
- Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)
- Eric Burlison (R-Mo.)
- Eli Crane (R-Ariz.)
- Randy Fine (R-Fla.)
- Andy Harris (R-Md. )
- Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)
- Max Miller (R-Ohio)
- Keith Self (R-Texas)
- Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.)
- Mike Turner (R-Ohio)
- Steve Scalise (R-La.) — Voted “no” strictly for procedural routing
The immediate casualty of the intraparty disagreement was a $1.15 trillion defense spending bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had engineered a plan to merge the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with the SAVE America Act, packaging the conservative voting priorities into a must-pass piece of legislation before sending it to the upper chamber.
However, the faction rebelled against this strategy, sinking the routine procedural rule vote 224–198.
Luna described the leadership’s legislative bundling as a “procedural head fake,” arguing that merging the bills would make it far too easy for the Senate to simply strip the election provisions out during conference negotiations.
Instead, Luna and like-minded House members demanded that the voting regulations — including mandatory photo ID and documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections — be written directly into the base text of the NDAA via amendment, thus making it legally harder to unravel.
Analysts say that the legislative standoff represents a massive bottleneck for the thin Republican majority, where Speaker Johnson can only afford to lose three votes on party-line measures.
Notably, this procedural loophole allows Republican leadership to bring the rule back to the floor for reconsideration at a later date without being forced to send the massive defense package back to the House Rules Committee.
Confronted by an unyielding wall of opposition, GOP leadership admitted defeat just hours after the failed vote, canceling all remaining legislative business for Wednesday and Thursday. Lawmakers were sent home for an early Fourth of July holiday recess, postponing any further action on the defense bill or pending appropriations measures until the House reconvenes on July 13th.
A visibly frustrated Speaker Johnson defended the derailed defense package, noting that it contained roughly 65 of the Trump administration’s core priorities and executive orders (EOs). Johnson lamented that a handful of his own members chose to halt very important progress because of their grievances with Senate Democrats.
Meanwhile, thee ultimate destination for the SAVE America Act remains highly contentious.
While the bill represents a core pillar of the Trump administration’s platform, it faces friction in the upper chamber. Even if the House successfully advances the measure, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has struggled to gather the necessary support to cross the 60-vote filibuster threshold, with several Senate Republicans joining Democrats to vote against the measure in a recent 48–50 vote.
As the House enters a multi-week cooling-off period, Johnson indicated he would use the recess to regroup and work on the holdouts, though hardliners have pledged to block all subsequent floor traffic until their strict voting integrity parameters are met.
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