Houthis Release Russian Seafarer in Apparent UN-Brokered Deal
A Russian seafarer, believed to be the last held by the Houthis, was released and flown out of Yemen by the United Nations on April 2. It appears to have been part of a deal arranged by the UN that also brought a number of Houthis who had been receiving medical treatment or who had been stranded overseas back to Sanaa.
The seafarer was identified by Reuters as Aleksei Galaktionov, who had been aboard the bulker Eternity C, which was struck in July 2025 while transiting the Red Sea. According to the reports, the Russian seafarer had been badly injured during the incident and had remained in Sanaa for medical treatment.
The official statement from the Houthis said he had completed his medical treatment and recovery. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in Sanaa said that this step was taken following communications with the Russians and with Iran. It said his departure via a United Nations plane would “pave the way for his return to Russia.”
The bulker Eternity C was transiting about 50 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah on July 7, when it was assaulted by personnel in multiple skiffs. The vessel was then hit by multiple missile strikes, disabling its engine and causing it to flood. It began sinking the following day, with reports that the lifeboats were destroyed, trapping the crew aboard. The vessel’s owners organized a rescue, but it appeared the rescuers were competing with the Houthis to retrieve the crew from the water.
The numbers were confused and did not match, but it appears four crewmembers and a security guard died. Ten crewmembers were rescued by the owner’s team, and it appeared that 11 were taken to Yemen and later paraded in front of the cameras by the Houthis. The Omanis organized the release of 10 crewmembers from the Philippines and India in December 2025, with no mention of the one Russian who had been seen in the videos released by the Houthis from the hospital.
The Ministry also confirmed that the UN flight also included the return of a number of “stranded and sick individuals from abroad, in addition to the travel of a number of stranded and sick individuals from within Yemen.”
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Unconfirmed reports online say among those aboard the plane were one or more field commanders who were receiving medical treatment aboard, the sons of prominent members of the Houthi faction, and the sons of prominent arms dealers.
The reports were less certain about who was aboard the plane when it left, other than the Russian seafarer. The Houthis have been holding several UN employees, saying they would be put on trial for espionage. In December 2025, the United Nations said that after the most recent incident, the Houthis were detaining a total of 69 of its employees, and they were working for their release.