A Ukrainian man working as a mechanic on the luxury yacht the “Lady Anastasia” was arrested Saturday in Mallorca, Spain. He partially sank his Russian oligarch boss’ superyacht.
Taras Ostapchuk, 55, was taken into custody. He admitted to opening several valves to intentionally flood the 156-foot-long vessel. The Majorca Daily Bulletin reported that Ostapchuk was unrepentant. And he was trying to sink the boat to protest the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Luxury yacht vandalism protest
The luxury yacht was partially submerged and suffered severe damage to its engine room. It is 156-foot-long and has five cabins. Lady Anastasia was listed for sale in 2018 with an asking price of €7,000,000 (USD 7,844,235.88).
Its owner, oligarch Alexander Mijeev, is the CEO of Russian military weapons company, JSC Rosoboronexport. Ostapchuk had been working for him for nearly a decade.
Arresting officers claimed that the former crewman said: “My boss is a criminal who sells weapons that kill the Ukrainian people.”
