Ukrainian sailor arrested for trying to sink oligarch’s superyacht
A Ukrainian sailor has been arrested in Mallorca and faces charges of attempting to sink a yacht owned by Alexander Mikheev, the CEO of the Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport and former head of the Russian helicopter federation. The boat is moored in the harbour of Port Adriano.
The unnamed man, who has been employed for the past 10 years as a mechanic on the Lady Anastasia, Mikheev’s 48-metre, £5m yacht, said he felt he had to do something after seeing footage of a Russian rocket attack on a block of flats in Kyiv, his home town. The defendant told the judge that he believed the rocket had been manufactured by Mikheev’s company.
Once on board the vessel he told the crew members, most of whom are also Ukrainians, to abandon ship. He allegedly then went to the engine room and opened a large valve in an attempt to sink the yacht. The crew members, aided by port staff, intervened to prevent the sinking.
“The owner of this yacht is a criminal who makes his living selling arms that are now being used to kill Ukrainians,” he told police when he was arrested. He was released several hours later, pending charges.
Meanwhile, one of two yachts undergoing a refit in the MB92 superyacht shipyard in Barcelona slipped away at the weekend after 146 days in the yard. The Galactica Super Nova, owned by Vagit Alekperov, who has a 20% stake in Lukoil, a company already subject to US sanctions, set sail for Tivat in Montenegro, which is not in the EU.
The superyacht Solaris, property of Roman Abramovich, who announced at the weekend that he was handing the “the stewardship and care” of Chelsea to the football club’s charitable foundation, remained moored in the city’s marina, while the Aurora, which belongs to the construction magnate Andrey Molchanov, is still in dry dock.