“Lady Anastasia”
“I don’t need a job if I don’t have Ukraine” – Why a sailor wanted to sink an oligarch’s yacht
A yacht with a difficult fate: first a sailor wanted to sink Alexander Alexandrovich Mikheev’s “Lady Anastasia”, but she was finally confiscated.
© Jose Luis Miro / Gaceta Náutica / DPA
Even before the EU sanctions led to the confiscation of his yacht, an employee of the oligarch Alexander Alexandrovich Mikheev tried to sink the “Lady Anastasia”. In an interview with CNN he talks about his motivation.
At the end of February there was a lot of excitement in Mallorca’s Port Adriano: the sailor Taras Ostapchuk had tried to sink the yacht of his boss Alexander Alexandrovich Mikheev (read more here). It was not about lack of wages or dissatisfaction with the job, but about personal revenge for the Russian troops’ invasion of Ukraine, the crew member’s home country.
His boss, Alexander Alexandrovich Mikheev, is head of the Russian arms manufacturer Rosoboroexport and Ostapchuk believes that he is directly responsible for the suffering that the Russian army inflicts on his people – because Mikheev provides the necessary tools.
From sailor to soldier
CNN spoke to Ostapchuk, who is now in Ukraine and helping his country fight the invaders, about a month after his crime. The attempt to sink the yacht was just “his first step in the war against Russia,” he says.
To the “Lady Anastasia” (IMO 8742496) to run aground, the Ukrainian opened various valves that were supposed to direct the water into the ship. As he did so, Ostapchuk warned the crew that the yacht was about to sink and everyone would have to disembark.
In the end, it was his compatriots who prevented the plan from being implemented successfully. After he reported his crime to his Ukrainian colleagues, they reacted angrily and called the police and the port authority. Shortly thereafter, it was possible to stop the penetrating water and pump it back out of the ship. CNN tells Ostapchuk that the other sailors were afraid of losing their jobs.
It didn’t matter to him: “You have to make a decision. Either you are in Ukraine or not. You have to decide whether there will be a Ukraine or whether you will have a job. I don’t need a job if I’m in Ukraine don’t have,” explained the former seaman. Today he continues to be actively involved in his country, helping the Ukrainian army in defending the country. “Now I’m serving in the army and I hope my service will bring our victory closer,” he said.
Yacht confiscated
He has nothing left for oligarchs, including his former boss Alexander Alexandrovich Mikheev, of course. “They should be held responsible because it is they who have led to everything with their behavior, with their lifestyle, with their insatiable greed. In order to distract the people from the real plundering of Russia by these rulers, they arrange wars with others countries that are innocent.”
The crew’s professional future appears to be in jeopardy, despite the loyalty they have shown. In mid-March, the European Union put Mikheev on the list of sanctioned persons, which led to the “Lady Anastasia” being detained by Spanish authorities in the port of El Toro. For the duration of the investigations into who actually owns the yacht, it is guarded by the Guardia Civil and is not allowed to leave Mallorca. Should Mikheev take an example from Alischer Burkhanovitsch Usmanow, whose mega yacht “Dilbar” is stuck in Hamburg for the same reason, the crew may be laid off anyway.
Also read:
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swell: CNN, Mallorca newspaper, European Union