The Ukrainian government has put in place an emergency plan if President Volodymyr Zelensky is killed in the Russian invasion, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed on Sunday (March 6th).
Zelensky survived three assassination attempts by Russian-backed groups last week, the Times reported on Friday, March 4.
In an interview with CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday, Blinken was asked if Russian leader Vladimir Putin would face the "consequences" of Zelensky's murder.
"And are you working on a contingency plan to support a Ukrainian government without him at the helm?" added journalist Margaret Brennan.
Blinken initially hailed Zelensky and other Kiev officials as "the embodiment of this incredibly courageous Ukrainian people."
"The Ukrainians have plans in place — which I'm not going to talk about or go into detail about — to make sure there's what we would call 'continuity of government' in one way or another. And let me leave it at that," he replied.
Intelligence reports circulated at the beginning of Putin's invasion that his goal was to "behead" the current democratically elected Ukrainian government. The Russian autocrat denigrated Zelensky and his deputies as "Nazis" and "drug addicts."
Last Wednesday, U.S. Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska) introduced the Bringing Oliarch Accountability Through Seizure (BOATS) law, which specifically targets Russian superyachts.
Russians own up to 10 percent of the world's fleet of mega-yachts, according to SuperYachtNews.
This law coincides with the seizure by France of one of these vessels, along with two others detained by the Italian authorities. The status of another Russian superyacht in Germany is in dispute.
It is said that Putin himself owns four yachts. One of them, the £73.2 million ship named Graceful, was spotted leaving a German port last month ahead of Western sanctions against Russia.
Its last known location would be Kaliningrad, the Russian oblast sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania along the Baltic coast. It is worth about £76 million and is 262 feet long.
Special features included a 15-meter-long indoor pool, which can be converted into a dance floor. The yacht can accommodate 12 people and has a crew of 14 people.
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