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Discover the Top Power Catamarans for 2024

• By Yachting Staff
• Updated: September 10, 2024

Power catamarans have seen a surge in popularity, growing both in size and appeal. These cruise-focused yachts offer homelike comfort, fuel efficiency and user-friendly operation, making them a favorite among avid travelers. Their popularity extends to the bareboat charter market for the same reasons.

In this article, we explore the world’s top power catamarans, ranging from a 36-footer ideal for a cruising couple to a 78-footer perfect for entertaining friends and family. The propulsion options are diverse, including outboards, diesel inboards, hybrids, and even all-solar setups.

Top Luxury Power Catamarans

The following power catamarans are all vessels we’ve reviewed. They are listed in no particular order.

• Fountaine Pajot MY44 : A family-oriented cat suitable for long-range cruising and aimed at owner-operators. 
• Silent Yachts 60 : This is a catamaran that can cruise comfortably for long distances using emissions-free solar-electric propulsion.
• Horizon PC74 : With interior and deck space like a much larger vessel, the PC74 is perfect for cruising the Bahamas and Caribbean.
• Aquila 36 : This beefy 36-footer is an outboard-powered, express-cruiser-style catamaran.
• Lagoon Seventy 8 Powercat : A spacious design, this vessel fits the volume of a 130-foot-long monohull into just 78 feet of length overall. 
• Horizon PC68 : This cat has a stable ride, long range, volume to spare and intriguing layout options.
• Two Oceans 555 : An elegantly simple yet luxurious 55-foot custom with the space and amenities of a much larger vessel.
• Lagoon 630 : From its open salon to its spacious decks, the Lagoon is a comfortable and luxurious platform.
• Fountaine Pajot MY5 : A midsize cruiser with serious big-boat space for family and friends. 
• Prestige Yachts M8 : The voluminous 65-footer lets owners customize onboard spaces.
• Aquila 47 Molokai : Calling all anglers: This cat has 60-plus-knot speed and is set up for serious bluewater adventure.

Fountaine Pajot MY44

The  Fountaine Pajot MY44 , a creation of Italian architect Pierangelo Andreani and French designer Daniel Andrieu, has a main deck that’s open from the aft-deck seating all the way forward to the starboard helm station. The sense of spaciousness is significant, for several reasons. First, four glass panels aft can all slide to port, creating an indoor-outdoor space with the aft deck and salon. In the salon, 32-inch-high windows extend for 12 feet down the sides of the yacht, with three sections per side, bringing in natural light along with the three forward panes that comprise the windshield. Finally, 6-foot-6-inch headroom provides vertical clearance, with a 21-foot-7-inch beam that adds interior roominess while keeping the yacht stable.

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Silent Yachts 60

Solar panels, ocean-crossing range and self-sufficiency define the electric Silent-Yachts 60 power catamaran. If there was any question that the “Tesla moment” has arrived in yachting, the Silent 60 clearly provides a positive response. Consider, for a moment, crossing oceans in silence at 5 to 6 knots without consuming a drop of fuel and never needing to plan your course between fuel stops. Imagine sitting at anchor and running the air conditioning all night, not to mention all the galley appliances plus the washer-dryer, without the hum or fumes from a genset.

Horizon PC74

As founder and director of The Powercat Company, a Horizon Power Catamarans distributor, Stuart Hegerstrom had long believed that catamaran builders needed to design their yachts to more stylish standards.

“The boats were very boxy,” he says, based on his years of experience with cats in the charter market. He and his partner, Richard Ford, asked Horizon to produce models that had high-end finishes and looked good inside and out.

The Horizon team brought in mega-yacht designer JC Espinosa to work with its own craftsmen. The result aboard the  Horizon PC74  is a catamaran with exterior styling, layout and functionality that should appeal to private and charter owners alike.

The Aquila 36  is a departure from her sisterships in that she is an outboard-powered, express-cruiser-style catamaran, but she also adheres to MarineMax’s philosophies.

With a single main living level from bow to stern and a beam of 14 feet 7 inches, the Aquila 36 is like a bowrider on steroids. She has seating that can handle 20 adults for outings and barbecues, and there are two staterooms below, one in each hull, for family weekending. The staterooms have nearly queen-size berths, en suite heads, stowage and 6-foot-6-inch headroom.

Lagoon Seventy 8 Powercat

Lagoon is a division of Groupe Beneteau, the world’s largest builder of sailing yachts, and the  Lagoon Seventy 8 Powercat  is a developmental sistership of its Seventy 7 super sailing cat. The Seventy series yachts are built at Construction Navale Bordeaux in France, which had to add a new yard to construct these catamarans because they require separate stern molds for the power and sail versions.

Horizon PC68

Multihull yachts ride differently than monohulls, often counteracting the sea’s motion for a smoother, more stable ride. On the Horizon PC68 , sharp hull entries make head seas seem gentle, and a Humphree stabilization system with blades reduces roll. Horizon uses SCRIMP construction for resin saturation that maximizes strength with an 111,112-pound displacement. And with a 5-foot-4-inch draft, the PC68 invites island cruising.

Two Oceans 555

With 27-knot speed, house-like volume, an on-deck master and top-tier tech, the Two Oceans 555 is a formidable power catamaran. Dave Jirikovic of HMY Yachts was on a quest. The sales broker was looking for the meanest, nastiest patch of Gulf Stream he could find to show a potential client what the Two Oceans 555 power cat could handle. And just as he had intended to show us, the broad-shouldered power cat didn’t even notice. He even dropped the single-lever throttles back to idle and left the 25-foot-wide Two Oceans 555 beam-on to another set of square-edged seas. The 55-footer brushed that off too. Jirikovic tried quartering into the seas—never a happy angle for catamarans—and the yacht drowsed through them.

Fitted with the optional twin 300-horsepower Volvo Penta D4 diesels, the  Lagoon 630 MY  burns only 1.64 gph total at 6 knots, giving a theoretical range of 2,952 nautical miles with standard tankage of 793 gallons. Hull No. 1 had an optional 502-gallon tank, giving it transatlantic range.

Luxury, stability and economy are all hallmarks of Lagoon’s return to luxury motor yachts. If you can take a ride, it will be worth your time.

Fountaine Pajot MY5

The flybridge deck on the Fountaine Pajot MY5 is a standout feature, offering virtually unobstructed 360-degree ocean views and an elevated beach club vibe. Aft of the off-center starboard helm is a spacious area perfect for entertaining, complete with a wet bar, refrigeration center, and ample seating. It’s the most popular space aboard according to the builder. And if the weather turns for the worse, a second helm station in the saloon allows the skipper to pilot the MY5 in climate-controlled comfort.

Prestige Yachts M8

How fitting it was that Prestige Yachts introduced its new M-Line flagship, the M8 , at Portopiccolo, a picturesque yachting village outside Trieste, Italy. Formerly a quarry, the cliff-side area had been chiseled into a clean site rife with eye-catching vistas, much like the French builder’s 65-foot power catamaran and its nearly 3,000 square feet of usable real estate.

Aquila 47 Molokai

With every boat, there’s an origin story. In the case of the Aquila 47 Molokai power catamaran, it starts with MarineMax, which saw people renting boats for bareboat charters. MarineMax Vacations was born. After experimenting with several production yachts, the company decided to build its own: the Aquila line, designed for charter as well as for sale to owner-operators.

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Discover the excitement and elegance of a Leopard Power Catamaran.

Engineered for peak performance and built to last. Our powercats offer unmatched efficiency, space, stability,  and maneuverability.

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Introducing the Leopard 40 Powercat. Unveiled in Cape Town, South Africa, our newest addition to the fleet celebrated rave reviews from the press and media, earning the title “European Multihull of the Year”. Reinvented from bow to stern, the Leopard 40 Powercat delivers outstanding volume and comfort. And you can rest assured knowing this yacht meets the highest standards of seaworthiness, making it the epitome of blue water cruising excellence.

The Leopard 46 Powercat is the embodiment of elevated living on the water. As part of the new generation of Leopard Powercats, the Leopard 46 Powercat marries comfort and performance in a cruising catamaran designed to fit your every need. From ambient lighting to optimized spaces, the Leopard 46 functions like a home, with intuitive touchpoints and efficient functionality. Make no mistake, theLeopard 46 Powercat offers power and agility for those bold enough to seek it. Get ready todiscover the exhilarating promise of a Leopard Catamaran.

The Leopard 53 Powercat, flagship of the Leopard Catamaran Fleet and recipient of the Multihull of the Year Award, now boasts over 110 yachts in service worldwide. This, among other accolades, has solidified the vessel’s standing as a leader in its class. The Leopard 53 Powercat is easy to maintain and up to 50% more fuel efficient than any monohull motor yacht counterparts. A reincarnation of her predecessor, the Leopard 53 Powercat has been reimagined to provide greater speed, comfort, performance and luxury. Live your passion aboard the Leopard 53 Powercat and enjoy the journey ahead.

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ArrowCat Power Catamarans Unmatched Craftsmanship Meets Unyielding Spirit

Experience the thrill of the open water with unparalleled comfort and tailored craftsmanship. Whether you are cruising the coastlines or anchored in serene bays, your ArrowCat power catamaran is your gateway to a life of adventure and tranquility.

Introducing Our Newest Addition, The 20' Power Cat Center Console Model

We intentionally designed this model to be simple and plain – simple to take the boat out, simple to use and to maintain, plain by allowing you the flexibility to customize it according to your preferences.

ArrowCat 20cc

This 20-foot center console is built with strength and purpose, designed for ease and simplicity. Effortlessly take it out on the water, and enjoy straightforward maintenance and operation. Its clean, adaptable design allows for extensive customization, whether on your own or through a dealer.

Fully Planing Hull Design LOA: 19′ 4″ / 5.89 meters Beam: 8′ 4″ / 2.54 meters Draft: 10″ / 0.254 meters

Explore Our 32' and 42' Signature Cabin Models

Perfect for inshore and offshore cruising, long distance and overnight trips, cold off seasons and hot boating seasons, and much more. The ArrowCat 32-foot and 42-foot models provide an exciting and versatile experience on the water. Explore to see which one could best suit your boating lifestyle.

ArrowCat 320

Merging express cruiser elegance with catamaran stability, the ArrowCat 320 Coupe features a planing hull design for smooth, swift rides. Powered by twin outboard motors, it promises dynamic performance and exhilarating adventures on every voyage.

Standard Layout: 2 Cabins/ 1 Wet Head Optional Tower Option LOA: 31′ 2″ / 9.5 meters Beam: 10’ / 3.05 meters Draft: 20″ / 0.508 meters

ArrowCat 420 Coupe

The ArrowCat 420 Coupe combines the luxury of an express cruiser yacht with the stability of a catamaran hull. Designed with a planing hull for agile, efficient navigation and powered by twin outboard motors, it delivers unmatched performance for your ocean adventures.

Standard Layout: 2 Cabins/ 1 Full Head LOA: 41′ 9″ / 12.73 meters Beam: 14′ 9″ / 4.50 meters Draft: 18″ / 0.46 meters

ArrowCat 420 Flybridge

 This luxury express cruiser yacht boasts a catamaran hull for superior stability and a planing hull design that ensures efficient, agile handling. Powered by twin outboard motors, it offers robust performance. The addition of a flybridge enhances your view and enjoyment, making every journey unforgettable.

Standard Layout: 2 Cabins/ 1 Full Head LOA: 41′ 9″ / 12.73 meters Beam: 14′ 9″ / 4.50 meters Draft: 20″ / 0.51 meters

Our Unique Design

Enjoy your boat year-round and stay warm and dry during cooler weather or overnight trips, while also having a comfortable and private space to retreat for whenever you need a break. Here are a few reasons why an ArrowCat power cat is an excellent boat to consider.

Catamarans have two hulls, which provide more stability in the water. They are less likely to roll or pitch, which means they offer a more comfortable ride, especially in rough conditions and for people who are prone to seasickness.

Power catamarans are typically more fuel-efficient than monohull boats of the same size. It requires less energy and yields more performance per HP. The two hulls create little to no drag or resistance to get on plane, resulting in greater fuel economy. Allowing for longer journeys with fewer refueling stops. 

Power catamarans have a shallow draft which means they can navigate diverse cruising grounds – beaches, islands, rivers, channels, and coastal areas with limited water depth. 

Express Cruiser

Cabin boats are designed with comfortable sleeping quarters and living spaces. They feature a sleeping space with a bed, a galley with a stove, sink, and refrigerator, and a head with a shower and toilet.

Cabin boats provide protection from the elements, such as wind, sun, and rain. This allows for comfortable cruising in a variety of weather conditions, as well as providing a haven during storms

Express cruisers are designed for efficient and fast navigation, offering higher speeds compared to traditional cruising boats. They usually have powerful engines that enable them to cover long distances quickly, making them ideal for day trips or weekend getaways.

Powered By Outboard Motors

Outboard motors can provide excellent performance and speed. They can often reach higher speeds than inboard motors of the same horsepower.

Outboard motors have a simple and standard design and are relatively easy to install, they do not require additional components such as a transmission, propeller shaft, couplings, and struts, that inboard engines do. They are easily assessable and cost less to maintain than inboard motors because they are mounted outside at the rear of the boat.

Outboard motors are often designed with features that make them easy to maneuver. For example, they can be tilted or rotated to provide precise control and handling in tight spaces and shallower waters.

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At ArrowCat, we believe in creating boats that are ready for anything. Our American-owned company builds versatile, multi-functional catamarans designed not just for a specific activity, but for a lifestyle that demands freedom and reliability. Whether you’re cruising, fishing, or exploring, our boats deliver superior performance in all conditions.

Trusted by seasoned mariners across coastal and saltwater environments, ArrowCat power catamarans embody the spirit of adventure and the promise of quality.

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44 Yacht Power Catamaran

Born of innovation and experience, the luxurious Aquila 44 Yacht Power Catamaran is a world leader in its class. Designed to be both a long-distance cruising yacht and a highly social platform, the highly experienced Aquila design and engineering team created the Aquila 44 Yacht to optimize performance.

Two Volvo Penta diesel engines are situated aft behind the living compartments reducing noise and vibrations. Bulbous bows increase the waterline for greater efficiency while reducing pitching moments. Multifunction displays, digital controls, joystick operation, engine monitoring displays, thrusters, and widely spaced main engines make operating the Aquila 44 Yacht easily accomplished by a single couple.

With an enormous amount of attention to detail and knowledge of how owners use their boats, both the exterior and interior spaces are perfected to serve those utilizations. The stairway from the flybridge to the foredeck gives safe, easy access to the ground tackle locker and forward cleats when anchoring or docking. Wide side decks and safety handrails are another example of the Aquila's commitment to owners’ and guests’ comfort and safety on the 44 Yacht model.

Available with a 3-cabin layout featuring a salon and galley with 360° views and an extensive flybridge, the layout of the Aquila 44 Yacht makes entertaining a crowd aboard easy. Boarding from the port or starboard swim platforms, guests step up to the aft deck with an al fresco dinette. The window partition between the aft deck and the interior galley lifts, and the countertop folds out to create a service bar. The galley is strategically placed between the aft deck and the salon and dinette on the main deck, making it easy to serve guests inside and outside. A summer kitchen is centrally located to attend to guests in the aft-mounted dinette, and those on the flybridge can enjoy panoramic views along with the operator while underway.

Customization options are available to meet an array of boating lifestyles.

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This ocean-going Catamaran is designed to go the distance. An exceptionally performing hull shape provides first in class stability and comfort. The Aquila 44 is available with a 3 cabin layout featuring a salon and galley with 360° views and Portuguese walkaround with forward access steps leading to an extensive flybridge.

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Explore an ocean of new possibilities with the power, space and sophistication of a Fountaine Pajot motor yacht. Delivering outstanding performance at sea, our range features magnificent panoramic views from their luminescent interiors, exceptional fuel efficiency, impressive power and world-class safety. Step onboard and experience the exhilaration of power meeting beauty.

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A voyage into the Motor Yacht world of Fountaine Pajot

Dive deep into the Fountaine Pajot experience through testimonials, news, webcasts, podcasts, press reviews, photo and video reports… Together, let’s redefine the parameters of Motor Yacht cruising!

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Lake Lama: Locals believe it makes wishes come true

“Lake Lama makes wishes come true, but it often does it in its own way,” we were warned by our guide, Yury. “One group was on a motor boat trip and the tourists said they wanted to stay on the lake a while longer. Then, the wind picked up, the shores got shrouded in fog and the tourists had to spend several more hours on the water before they found their way back to their hostel.”

Lama is the “local lake” of Norilsk residents. The distance between the polar city in the north of Krasnoyarsk Territory and Lama is 120 km or about four hours by boat. It is also a starting point for travelers who set out to conquer the remote Putorana Plateau .

Among the countless lakes, waterfalls and mountains of the Putorana Plateau, Lama stands out not only for the beauty of its landscapes and the translucency of its water, but also its mystical atmosphere which attracts romantics and dreamers.

In the footsteps of ancient civilizations

‘Lama’ means “big water” in the Evenk language. Its waters are, indeed, big: During our trip, the echo sounder on the motor boat showed a depth of more than 200 meters, with sharp dips. Scientists still don’t know how deep these are, however, since it is very difficult to study a lake that is ice-bound for most of the year and only comes to life at the end of June. It even only appeared on the map in 1921 during a geological expedition by Nikolay Urvantsev.

This is the oldest camp on Lama, built in 1930s for the pioneers. Now it's under repair.

There are no settlements or roads at Lake Lama but the Evenks, Nganasans and Dolgans are regarded as its indigenous peoples. From time immemorial, the farthest, eastern, end of the world lake has been regarded as a powerful place. Wooden Evenk idols have been found here and, according to legend, the last surviving Evenk shamanka (female shaman) was still living there in the late 1930s. Other peoples had populated the area even before the Evenks, but we essentially know nothing about them.

The tourist camp on Lama.

Soviet archaeologist Leonid Khlobystin made several expeditions to the shores of the local rivers and lakes in the mid-1970s. He discovered that the Putorana Plateau was not just inhabited 3,000-4,000 years ago, but those people were already using objects out of tin bronze, a very ancient metal alloy.

Researchers also found fragments of knives, as well as containers for smelting (melting pots) and bronze disks. The earliest bronze finds in the Arctic relate to the Putorana Plateau and are dated 18th century BC. An analysis of the bronze has shown that local craftsmen were using native copper from a Norilsk deposit.

And what about other materials? Lead, bismuth and antimony are required for the manufacture of alloys. It turned out that they were supplied from other parts of Siberia - in other words, links had been established between the bronze casters of distant regions. But it is not known why these lands became deserted.

A powerful place

Oleg Krashevsky in his house-museum.

Today, the Bunisyak tourist hostel can be found here. It is more than just a leisure destination. Its founder, Oleg Krashevsky, has spent half a century collecting the old costumes, everyday items and ceremonial and symbolic objects of Northern peoples.

Oleg's dog Ganya.

He accompanied Leonid Khlobystin on one of his expeditions and believes that the archaeologist had picked up the trail of another civilization. And, to this day, he has been making his own trips to the furthest corners of the plateau that can be reached.

Shaitan-mountain.

It would be difficult to find anyone with a better knowledge of the area. “We have discovered a large number of ancient ruins here and some kind of remains of ancient foundations with megalithic masonry and shaped blocks,” he says. “The place was once buzzing with life.”

At the Bunisyak camp.

A geologist and game manager by training, he spent many years at the Agricultural Research Institute of the Far North and was involved in establishing the Putorana State Nature Reserve. He has 16 academic papers and three monographs to his name. The Nganasans call him their ‘White Shaman’.

The Bunisyak tourist hostel.

“My amulet is a symbol of a shaman of a Nganasan tribe. It is very ancient,“ he says. “It was presented to me by the head of one of the tribes through the female line, as well as several other objects, when I healed her arm.“

And, believe it or not, in the course of the day, which we spent visiting various tourist hostels on Lake Lama, his was the only place where we weren’t assailed by mosquitoes and gadflies. “I reached an agreement with them,“ he explained.

Meeting by a waterfall

Yury's leading us to the waterfall.

We head for the Neralakh waterfall in the company of our guide Yury. Its roar can be heard from a distance, but, to get up close, we have to negotiate a couple of hundred meters of steep climbs and descents.

This is what ‘kurumnik’ looks like.

Underfoot, the stones are unstable and seem to have a life of their own, ready to give way at any moment. The local word for them is ‘kurumnik’ and Yury explains that we should only try to tread on the moss-covered ones, as they are more stable. He does not have any mystical beliefs himself and finds a scientific explanation for everything.

The Nerelakh waterfall. People seems so small!

“I’ve never seen so many rainbows in my life as I have here. In the past month, I’ve observed them every day: One stood upright, another curved round in an arc and a third was perfectly straight.”

His explanation for these phenomena is that there are outcrops of geological formations on the shores of the lake, creating magnetic field anomalies, while atmospheric phenomena on the water occur, because of wide temperature variations.

But the place, of course, exerts a very powerful spell. “People, generally, feel a rush of energy here. And Northern ethnic groups consider it a sacred place and many make a wish here,“ Yury says.

We were lucky with the weather: It was warm, the sky was clear and the lake was perfectly still, even though there had been storms with thunder and lightning on Lake Lama literally the day before and we had thought our trip would have to be canceled.

Fast forward a bit and, suffice it to say that, at the close of the day, Lake Lama displayed a simply fantastic sunset, reflected in the mirror-like water and then the densest of fog set in, which only dispersed when approaching the bright city lights of Norilsk.

On the way there, we had discussed the prospects for local tourism and I said it would be interesting to hear what people who come to Lake Lama from afar have to say.

Pushok, the kindest guard on one Lama camp.

Just imagine: We were slithering across the ‘kurumnik’ and were already on our last legs when: bingo! We bumped into a group of anglers, one of whom turned out to be from New Zealand, no less. Vladimir told us that he had been born in Russia, but has lived on another continent for a long while and was visiting for the first time. And, as I was marveling at the way my wish had come true so quickly, Konstantin Viktorovich, the leader of our group, summed things up in a nutshell when he exclaimed: “What did I say?“

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Norilsk: The city built by gulag prisoners where Russia guards its Arctic secrets

Environmental activists are frustrated by how authorities handled a diesel spill which poured into two Arctic rivers in late May.

International correspondent @DiMagnaySky

Friday 3 July 2020 23:41, UK

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The drive from Norilsk airport to the city takes you past mile after mile of crumbling, Soviet-era factories.

It looks like an endless, rusting scrapyard - a jumble of pipes, industrial junk and frost-bitten brickwork. If you were looking for an industrial apocalypse film setting, this would be your place - but you're unlikely to get the permissions.

Norilsk was built in Stalin's times by gulag prisoners. This gritty industrial city is a testament to their endurance both of the cruelty of Stalin's regime and of the harsh polar climate. There were no thoughts then on how to build to protect the environment, just to survive it.

Vasily Ryabinin doesn't think much has changed, at least in ecological terms. He used to work for the local branch of the federal environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, but quit in June after exposing what he says was a failure to investigate properly the environmental impact of the gigantic diesel spill which poured into two Arctic rivers in late May.

At 21,000 tonnes, it was the largest industrial spill in the polar Arctic .

Despite the Kremlin declaring a federal emergency and sending a host of different agencies to participate in the clean-up, just last week Mr Ryabinin and activists from Greenpeace Russia found another area where technical water used in industrial processes was being pumped directly into the tundra from a nearby tailing pond. Russia's investigative committee has promised to investigate.

"The ecological situation here is so bad," Mr Ryabinin says.

"The latest constructions such as the tailing pond at the Talnack ore-processing plant were built exclusively by Nornickel chief executive Vladimir Potanin's team and supposedly in accordance with ecological standards, but on satellite images you can see that all the lakes in the vicinity have unnatural colours and obviously something has got into them."

Mining company Nornickel would disagree. It has admitted flagrant violations at the tailing pond and suspended staff it deems responsible at both the Talnack plant and at Norilsk Heat and Power plant no 3 where the diesel spill originated from.

On Thursday it appointed Andrey Bougrov, from its senior management board, to the newly-created role of senior vice president for environmental protection. It has a clear environmental strategy, provides regular updates on the status of the spill, and its Twitter feed is filled with climate-related alerts.

But what investors read is very different to the picture on the ground.

Norilsk used to be a closed city - one of dozens across the Soviet Union shut off to protect industrial secrets. Foreigners need special permissions approved by the Federal Security Service (FSB) to enter the region. It would take an invitation from Nornickel to make that happen and, for the past month since the spill, that has not been forthcoming.

Unlike in Soviet times, Russian citizens are now free to come and go. That's why our Sky News Moscow team were able to fly in and travel around the city, even if getting to the spill site was blocked. What they were able to film provides a snapshot of the immense challenge Russia faces in upgrading its Soviet-era industrial infrastructure, particularly at a time when climate change is melting the permafrost on which much of it was built.

Just downwind from one of the rusting factories on the city outskirts is a huge expanse of dead land. The skeletal remains of trees stand forlorn against the howling Arctic winds. Sulphur dioxide poisoning has snuffed the life out of all that lived here. Norilsk is the world's worst emitter of sulphur dioxide by a substantial margin.

"For 80km south of here everything is dead," Mr Ryabinin says, "and for at least 10km in that direction too. Everything here depends on the wind."

Immediately after the spill, Mr Ryabinin filmed and took samples from the Daldykan river just a few kilometres from the fuel tank which had leaked. By that point the river was a churning mix of diesel and red sludge dredged up from the riverbed by the force of the leak. Norilsk's rivers have turned red before and the chemical residues have sunk to the bottom, killing all life there. Nothing has lived in those rivers for decades.

In his capacity as deputy head of the local environmental watchdog, Mr Ryabinin says he insisted that he be allowed to fly further north to check the levels of contamination in Lake Pyasino and beyond.

Nornickel at the time claimed the lake was untouched by the spill. Mr Ryabinin says his boss encouraged him to let things be.

"I can't be sure I would have found anything, but this sort of confrontation - making sure I didn't go there with a camera, let alone with bottles for taking samples, it was all very clear to me. It was the final straw."

Rosprirodnadzor refused to comment to Sky News on Mr Ryabinin's allegations or suggestions that the agency was working hand in hand with Nornickel.

Georgy Kavanosyan is an environmental blogger with a healthy 37,000 following on YouTube. Shortly after the spill, he set out for Lake Pyasino and to the Pyasina River beyond to see how far the diesel had spread.

"We set out at night so that the Norilsk Nickel security wouldn't detect us. I say at night, but they've got polar nights there now, north of the Arctic Circle. So it's still light but it's quieter and we managed to go past all the cordons."

He is one of the few to have provided evidence that the diesel has in fact travelled far beyond where the company admits. Not just the 1,200km (745m) length of Lake Pyasino but into the river beyond.

He says his measurements indicated a volume of hydrocarbons dissolved in the water of between two and three times normal levels. He thinks after he published his findings on YouTube, the authorities' vigilance increased.

Greenpeace Russia have spent the last two weeks trying to obtain samples from Lake Pyasino and the surrounding area. They have faced difficulties getting around and flying their samples out for independent analysis.

They are now waiting for results from a laboratory in St Petersburg but say the samples remain valid technically for just four days after collection and that they weren't able to make that deadline due to the authorities' actively obstructing their work.

Elena Sakirko from Greenpeace Russia specialises in oil spills and says this has happened to her before. This time, a police helicopter flew to the hunter's hut where they were staying and confiscated the fuel for the boat they were using. Then a deputy for the Moscow city parliament tasked with bringing the samples back from Norilsk was forced to go back empty-handed.

"We were told at the airport we needed permission from the security department of Nornickel," Ms Sakirko says. "We asked them to show us some law or statement to prove that this was legal or what the basis for this was, but they haven't showed us anything and we still don't understand it."

Nornickel announced this week that the critical stage of the diesel spill is over. The company is now finalising dates for a press tour for foreign media and for other international environmentalists.

Mr Ryabinin thinks this should have happened weeks ago.

"If we don't let scientists come to the Arctic region to evaluate the impact of the accident, then in the future if anything similar happens, we won't know what to do."

A spokesperson for Nornickel said the company "is actively cooperating with the scientific community and will meticulously assess both the causes and effects of the accident."

Nornickel considers permafrost thawing to be the primary cause of the accident, but is waiting for the end of investigation before making a final statement, the spokesperson said.

They added that the company "accepts full responsibility for the incidents on its sites these past two months and holds itself accountable for any infrastructural deficits or poor decisions by personnel.

"The imperative is to do everything to clean up our sites, instil a stronger culture of transparency and safety in our workforce, and ensure that such situations do not occur in the future."

1953: Uprising at the Norilisk Labour Camp

Account of a mass strike by inmates at the Norilag Gulag against executions and enforced labour.

Norillag prisoners strike for better conditions (Norilsk uprising), 1953 Goals: The prisoners' demands included a review of all prison sentences; an end to summary executions; the shortening of the working day from twelve to eight hours; the right to correspond with their families; the transfer of disabled prisoners; and the removal of the locks on the barracks, the bars on the windows, and the identification numbers on prison uniforms.

The Norillag was a gulag labor camp, located in Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, a town in the Taimyr Peninsula on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, close to the mouth of the Enisei River. Inmates of the Norillag worked 12-hour days, in temperatures as low as negative 50 degrees Celsius during the winter. They worked in mines, brickyards, cement plants, and in the base camps, as well as on road and railroad construction. Sources estimate that the Norilsk camps held between 25,000 and 35,000 inmates at the time of the Norilsk uprising in 1953, the majority of whom were political prisoners.

The death of Joseph Stalin on 5 March 1953 raised hopes of amnesty among the prisoners, but their hopes were soon dashed when authorities announced that the amnesty would only apply to criminal prisoners, and not to political prisoners.

Amidst an atmosphere of frustrated expectations, the Norilsk uprising began in Camp No. 5 on 26 May 1953, one day after a perimeter guard shot at five political prisoners and killed two. The prisoners in Camp No. 5 spread news of the violence to other compounds via a pre-established semaphore communications system using flags.

When the news reached Camp No. 4, a prisoner named Yevgeny Griciak responded by beginning a strike in his camp. When he failed to convince the inmates to put down their tools with his words, Griciak “noticed then that the rhythm of the work was set by the sound of the air hammers. As long as the hammers kept going, the inmates would work, so I shut the compressors off. The hammers stopped and everyone quit working.” When one of the authorities ordered the 5,000 prisoners to return to their work, the inmates refused. The result was a three-day siege at the construction site. On the inmates’ third day without food or water, they painted a large sign with the words, “We Are Being Killed and Starved,” and hung the sign on a building to make it visible to the townspeople of Norilsk. Shortly afterward, the authorities brought in food and water, and the inmates voted to go back to the barracks. Nevertheless, despite their return to the barracks, the inmates continued with their strike the next day.

By 5 June 1953, the Norillag prisoners had initiated strikes in six of the camps, with a total of 16,379 prisoners on strike. One source reports that inmates joined together as a human wall to block camp administrators from the prisoners’ quarters. Another source reports that inmates raised black flags over their barracks as a symbol of their revolt, while local trains carried strike slogans.

As the camp authorities deliberated, the prisoners organized themselves. They set up committees to regulate the duties of strikers and elected leaders: one leader for each barrack. Representatives on the committees included Ukrainians, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians, although Ukrainians were the most well-represented. Among the leaders of the uprising were Yevhen Hyrtsyak, Danylo Shumuk, Alida Dauge, and Asti Tofri. Dauge and Tofri were two of the eight women leaders in the revolt.

The first major demand of the prisoners was to have the opportunity to negotiate with representatives from Moscow instead of with local authorities. The scholar William D. Pederson writes that “[t]his demand, which was repeated during the Vorkuta and Kingir uprisings, seems to have grown out of the display of power that Communist prisoners of war exerted on the truce negotiations in the Korean War” (see “Vorkuta prisoners strike for improved conditions, Russia, 1953”).

In Camp No. 3, prisoners led by a man named Nikolaitchuk distributed hundreds of leaflets to the townspeople of Norilsk, located a mile and a half away, to publicize the situation in the camp. The inmates printed the leaflets with ink from the administrative office and letter blocks that they cut out of rocks and pieces of cement using their work tools. The inmates then delivered the leaflets to city dwellers by crafting kites from paper lying around, tying the leaflets to the kites with a cord, and setting the cords on fire as they released the kites into the air. As the kites flew over Norilsk, the cords burnt to an end, causing the leaflets to fall from the sky into the city. Griciak said that that word of the revolt finally reached the authorities in Moscow partly because of this action.

On 6 June 1953, a special commission arrived from Moscow to meet with the prisoners and discuss their demands. Colonel Mikhail Kuznyetsov (also spelled Kuznetsov, Kusnetov), the chief of the prison administration of the Soviet Union’s interior ministry (MVD) led the commission, whose task was to end the prisoners’ strike at any cost. Other members of the commission included Lieutenant-General Seryodkin, the commander of prison convoy guard forces of the MVD, and Comrade Kiselyov, a representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR.

A secret prisoners’ committee submitted a list of demands to the commission. The prisoners' demands included a review of all prison sentences; an end to summary executions; the shortening of workdays from twelve to eight hours; the right to correspond with their families; the transfer of disabled prisoners; the removal of locks on the barracks and bars on the windows; and the removal of identification numbers from prison uniforms. Hyrtsyak was among the inmates who presented the demands to the commission. Kuznyetsov told the prisoners that a few of their demands would be met immediately, while the others would be reviewed in Moscow. In the meantime, the prisoners were to go back to work, which they did.

Ten days after the negotiations ended, the prisoners re-initiated their strike. Reports vary as to whether the strikes were triggered by the mass arrest of the first strike’s leaders under Kusnyetsov’s orders, or by the fact that camp authorities had begun to lock the doors of the prisoners’ barracks.

The inmates in Camp No. 6, the women’s compound, also participated in the strike. On 7 July 1953, when the women inmates had not worked for a month and been on hunger strike for a week, camp authorities installed machine guns on the watchtowers. 3,000 women prisoners, in turn, emerged from their barracks and started to dig graves for themselves to demonstrate their contempt for the authorities. At that point, the authorities began to attack them with jets of hot water, bricks, and truncheons. The women fled into the tundra, where they met more troops.

The Norilsk uprising ended on 4 August 1953. While one source reports that MVD troops encircled all six camps of Norillag at the beginning of August, opened fire, and thereby terminated the revolt through bloody suppression, other sources suggest that the strikes in most of the camps had already ended by the time that the troops arrived. One source, for example, writes that the strikes in Camps No. 4 and 5 ended on 4 July, when guards with machine guns and automatic rifles killed 27 prisoners. These sources say that the military repression on 4 August was directed toward Camp No. 3, where the strikers had held out the longest. While the official body count of the confrontation was four, unofficial body counts were as high as 150.

After the suppression of the uprising, authorities sent the most active leaders of the protests to prisons and punishment camps. Meanwhile, the administration put down additional attempts to strike through “combing,” a practice in which armed guards forced groups of 50 to 60 prisoners to the taiga, separated out the inmates whom they knew to be active strikers, and isolated them.

Few spoke of what had transpired for fear of punishment. “The men had been warned that any talk of the revolt, or any attempt to stir up any new trouble, meant immediate transfer to a penal camp and perhaps a stiffer sentence,” wrote Walter Ciszek, who served as a priest in Camp No. 5.

In spite of the uprising’s violent end, the authorities granted many of the prisoners’ demands, such as the shortening of their workday from twelve to eight hours; the right to correspond with their family and receive packages; the removal of bars from their windows; and the removal of numbers from their uniforms. Because of these gains, along with the fact that a government commission had arrived from Moscow as requested, the prisoners considered their protest to have ended in victory.

The Norilsk uprising was one of the first major revolts of the inmate movement that emerged within the Soviet labor camp system between 1952 and 1954. Together with the 1953 revolt in Vorkuta, it marked what L. Latkovskis describes as “the beginning of the end of the Gulag.”

Research Notes Influences: The display of power that Communist prisoners of war exercised on the truce negotiations in the Korean War appear to have inspired the Norillag prisoners' demand to negotiate with representatives from Moscow instead of with local authorities.

Sources: Caputo, Philip. 1977. "Tempo: Courage haunts hero of a Soviet prison mutiny." Chicago Tribune (1963-Current File), March 16, (https://proxy.swarthmore.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/171494532?accountid=14194). Coynash, Halya. 2017. “In Memoriam: Yevhen Hrytsyak, Leader of the Norilsk Uprising.” Human Rights in Ukraine. Website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190218030553/http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1494809470). Derevianyi, Ihor. 2013. “The Virus of Rebellion.” The Ukrainian Week. Retrieved February 18, 2019 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190218030426/https://ukrainianweek.com/History/82161). Fedynsky, Andrew. 2003. "PERSPECTIVES: "Enemy of the People"." Ukrainian Weekly, March 2, (https://proxy.swarthmore.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/367721175?accountid=14194). Latkovskis, L. 2005. “II. Baltic Prisoners of the Gulag Revolts of 1953.” Lithuanus: Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences 51(4). Retrieved February 18, 2019 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190218031803/http://www.lituanus.org/2005/05_4_1Latkovskis.htm) Meek, James. 1994. "Stalin's Legacy Lives on in City that Slaves Built." The Guardian (1959-2003), Dec 29, (https://proxy.swarthmore.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/187650276?accountid=14194). Pederson, William D. 1981. “Norilsk Uprising of 1953” edited by J. L. Wieczynski. The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History 25:52–54. Rotenberg, Olga. 2003. “Former Gulag Inmates in Russia Mark Norilsk Uprising.” Agence France Presse, September 23. (https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:49KX-GSD0-00GS-K499-00000-00&context=1516831).

Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy: Sacha Lin, 17/02/2019

Attachments

• hunger strikes

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