Alexander A. Mikheev.
The yacht worker was identified as Taras Ostapchuk, theAssociated Pressreported.
Mikheev’s ship was docked when the sailor reportedly opened the valves toLady Anastasia’s engine room. He was arrested on Saturday and released on bail, the BBC reported.
The employee reportedly said he tried to sink the ship after seeing footage of a helicopter attacking a building in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, after Russia launched a war in the country last week.
“They were attacking innocents,” he told local outlets, according to the BBC, adding that he would attempt to sink the yacht again if given the chance.
Mikheev, 61, is the head of Rosoboronexport, a company that specializes in exporting weapons, such as tanks, ships, weapons and ammunition.
Rosoboronexport did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
After leaving jail, Ostapchuk told the AP that he planned to travel to Ukraine to help defend the country from Russian troops.
“All Ukrainian citizens must be defenders of our fatherland because it is being subject to Russian aggression,” he said.
“We must stop this war,” Ostapchuk added.
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“You don’t know where to go, where to run, who you have to call,” Liliya Marynchak, a 45-year-old teacher in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, told PEOPLE recently of the moment her city was bombed.
“This is just panic,” she said.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the interest of so-called “peacekeeping.”
“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine,” President Joe Biden said as the invasion began in force in February.
Over the weekend, Putin ordered Russian deterrence forces, which include its nuclear weapons, to aheightened state of readiness.
U.S. officialstoldThe New York Timesthat America’s alert level for its nuclear forces has not changed, indicating a deliberate decision to avoid further escalation.
source: people.com
