The Lady Anastasia, Pord Adriano, Majorca
(Picture: Supplied)The Ukrainian sailor who tried to sink his rich Russian boss’s £4.2 million super yacht in a Majorcan marina has vowed to return home on Monday to defend his country against Vladimir Putin.
The 55-year-old mechanic was held on Saturday over the attack on Lady Anastasia where he has worked for nearly a decade.
He told police and officials he had tried to sink the vessel in an alleged “act of revenge” after seeing TV footage of a helicopter attacking an apartment block similar to one where his family live, according to local reports.
The sailor, named locally only as Taras O, is also said to have told investigators he believed the chopper was using weapons made by a firm belonging to his boss Alexander Mijeev.
Mijeev is a former head of the Russian Helicopter Corporation who took over state-owned weapons supplier Rostec six years ago.
The boat attack happened in Port Adriano in south-west Majorca on Saturday.
The mechanic is understood to have handed himself in to Civil Guard officers when they responded to an alarm call.
Monday he revealed he was planning on heading back home to fight for his country after being released on bail following a court quiz.
It was not immediately clear if he would be allowed to leave Spain.
But he told island paper Diario de Mallorca: “Today I’m going to fly to Poland because Ukrainian airspace is closed and then I’ll travel to Ukraine to fight for my country.”
A Civil Guard spokesman confirmed officers had arrested a sailor on suspicion of criminal damage on Saturday.
The spokesman said: “A man has been held on suspicion of criminal damage to a yacht moored at Port Adriano.
"The arrest took place just after midday on Saturday and he was taken to court on Sunday.”
The 55-year-old is believed to have been released on bail pending an ongoing criminal probe.
Court officials said they were unable to make any official statement early Monday.
Staff at Port Adriano, the modern marina where the super yacht Lady Anastasia was moored, said they would be making no comment about the incident.
He appeared before a judge at a court in Palma on Sunday.
The hearing was held behind-closed-doors as is normal in Spain where only trials take place in public.
He is reported to have told the judge: “During a work break on Saturday I was watching news about the war.
“There was a video of an attack by a helicopter on a building in Kyiv. The weapons used are made by the company that owns the yacht. They were attacking innocent civilians.”
The sailor’s loved ones are believed to have fled Kyiv for an unnamed village.
Majorcan newspaper Ultima Hora said the detainee told the judge who quizzed him before releasing him pending an ongoing probe: “I don’t regret anything I’ve done and would do it again.”
