A man has been arrested in Palma after attempting to sink the 48 metre Lady Anastasia in Port Adriano.
The communications office for the Superior Court of Justice confirmed that a man, whose name was withheld, was arrested by Civil Guard officers on Saturday and later released on bail after appearing in court while investigations continue.
According to local media outlet Ultima Hora, the man in question is 55-year-old Ukrainian national Taras Ostapchuk, who had been the chief engineer on board Lady Anastasia for more than a decade. Ostapchuk told local reporters that the yacht was owned by the chief executive of a Russian military weapons company and that his actions had been triggered by footage of a Russian missile hitting apartments in Kyiv, Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict.
It was reported that Ostapchuk opened several valves in the engine room of the boat that caused a leak and warned the crew to abandon the vessel. "I don't regret anything I've done," he told local reporters.
Lady Anastasia was built by New Zealand yard Sensation Yachts to a design by Donald Starkey and delivered in 2001 under the name Aria. She can sleep up to 10 guests in five cabins comprising a main deck master suite, two doubles and two twin cabins convertible to a VIP suite. Lady Anastasia was listed for sale in 2018 asking €7,000,000.