Ukrainian Takes Out War Rage on Russian Boss's Yacht

Sailor angry at Russia's invasion allegedly tried to sink oligarch's $7.8M vessel in Majorca
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 28, 2022 8:06 AM CST
Ukrainian Who Tried to Sink Russian Boss' Yacht Has No Regrets
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/sergeyryzhov)

People are coping with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in different ways, but for one Ukrainian sailor on the Spanish island of Majorca, his coping mechanism took a particularly vengeful turn: He tried to sink a Russian oligarch's $7.8 million superyacht, reports the BBC. The nearly 160-foot-long Lady Anastasia—owned by Alexander Mikheev, the head of Russian state arms company Rosoboronexport, which exports tanks, ships, ammo, weapons, and other wares of war—was docked in Port Adriano on Saturday when police were called to the scene, where they found the vessel partially submerged, per the Telegraph.

Authorities arrested a man identified by the Majorca Daily Bulletin as D. Taras O., the chief engineer who'd spent the past decade working on the Lady Anastasia. Cops say Taras told them: "My boss is a criminal who sells weapons that kill the Ukrainian people." The newspaper reports that Taras allegedly shut off the vessel's fuel valves and cut the electricity, opened up two valves in the engine room and crew's quarters, then told the three crew members on board to get off the yacht.

Later, Taras told a judge that he'd become infuriated after seeing TV reports of the attack on his homeland. "There was a video of a helicopter attack on a building in Kyiv," he said in court. "The armaments used are produced by the yacht owner's company. They were attacking innocents." As for his level of remorse on trying to sink the yacht, Taras told the judge: "I don't regret anything I've done and I would do it again." There's been no comment so far from Mikheev. The judge released Taras on bail, and the sailor, who likely no longer has a job with the oligarch, noted he was headed home. "That was my first battle," Taras said, per the Telegraph. "Today I am returning to Ukraine." (More Majorca stories.)

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