“We still have enough to eat, we have caught a few tuna in recent days. What worries me the most is the water. She begins to miss on board. » Vladimir Martus, captain of the Shtandart, is launched in a non-stop and unassisted sailing race, whose stake is not a trophy but the health of his crew and the survival of his boat.
Because of its Russian flag and its home port (Saint-Petersburg), the replica of the first warship of the Baltic fleet, built in 1703 according to the plans of Peter Ier the Great, is no longer welcome in European ports. Malta even refused to let him fill his fuel tank. “We can’t buy diesel, so we sail,” explains the captain with the face of a sea bass, long hair and a beard the same color as his white sails.
Condemned to wander
Thus the frigate is condemned to wandering in the Mediterranean. Leaving Greece, where she spent the winter, she is traveling at a slow pace towards the Sicilian coasts, with a crew on board “multinational” composed of a dozen sailors. French, Czechs, Slovenes, Estonians, Latvians participate in the same effort in the daily maneuvers of the three-master, under the orders of a Russian captain.
“On the “Shtandart” there have always been Russians and Ukrainians. I would like the boat to be the symbol of the union between our two countries, to be a ship of peace. »Vladimir Martus, captain of the ship
When the war broke out, Vladimir Martus immediately took a stand against the aggression decided upon by the other Vladimir, whom he describes without hesitation as “tyrant”. “I don’t have the words to say how unhappy I am. My father is Ukrainian, three of my cousins live in Ukraine. I am against this war, but don’t confuse Putin with the Russian people. On the Shtandart, there have always been Russians and Ukrainians. I would like the boat to be the symbol of the union between our two countries, to be a ship of peace. »
The sailboat thus sports, next to the tricolor flag of the Russian Federation, the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine. If there are no Ukrainian sailors on board at present, it is because they landed in Greece, in order to join their country. It is for them, in particular, that the Rochelais Ludovic Pacciarella, liaison officer of the Shtandart, makes his second humanitarian truck trip to the heart of Ukraine, to bring medicine and medical equipment.
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