It has two whirlpool baths, a cinema and a range of 5,000 nautical miles. At £26m the 54-metre Sirius may look a little ostentatious for a world leader whose people have an average salary of £400 a month. But it seems Dmitry Medvedev, the president of Russia, has thrown caution to the wind with his administration's purchase of a "trawler super-yacht".
Reports in Moscow say the Kremlin bought the boat last year from the Proteksan-Turquoise company in Istanbul, changing its name from Leo Fun. The craft's "sophisticated and luxury interior features" include a large salon, a master suite and five guest cabins, quarters for 12 crew and an artificial waterfall encased in glass. Twin staircases lead to a bathing platform with "a wide array of water toys and diving equipment".
Medvedev's administration confirmed it had acquired a new yacht but refused to verify the price, or whether it was the Sirius. Viktor Khrenikov, a spokesman, told the Vedomosti newspaper it had bought a second-hand craft late last year.
Khrenikov said it was still being fitted out. "Everything necessary for a president for work and relaxation has been thought of," he said. "The president could use her during the 2014 Olympics [in the Black Sea port of Sochi]," he added.
It is thought the Sirius will replace the presidential yacht, Kavkaz, which is already overdue for decommissioning. Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC, owns the world's largest private yacht: a £288m, 164-metre "floating mansion" with a helipad and a disco, called Eclipse.
Analysts believe it was no coincidence that Medvedev's purchase emerged this week as he visited the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Behind a public mask of unity, business and political clans in the Kremlin and government are engaged in a struggle for power as the 2012 presidential election approaches.
Some want the supposedly more progressive Medvedev to continue, while others are behind Putin, the hawkish prime minister who is expected to return to the presidency.
Earlier this month, Russian websites published photographs of a secluded £600m palace on the Black Sea coast which a businessman alleged was constructed secretly on Putin's orders using money donated by oligarchs to develop Russia's economy. The prime minister's spokesman has dismissed the claims."When we hear about a yacht or a palace it's clear that someone hasn't just walked past and noticed it by chance," said Nikolai Petrov, an expert on internal politics at the Carnegie Centre, Moscow. "We practically don't have investigative journalism in Russia, we have different forms of leaks," he added.