DONETSK, April 11. /TASS/. Militants of the Ukrainian nationalist battalion Azov threatened with weapons the crew of the Azov Concord vessel and handcuffed all sailors, Nikolai Galaktionov, the captain of the vessel and Alexei Izhevsky, the chief mate, told journalists.

"Armed troops of the Azov battalion came on board of the vessel. A sailor on the watch duty rushed to the cook-house of the mess deck and reported an invasion of troops," Galaktinov said.

"I immediately hurried to the control door, where they stood banging on it and demanded that we open it. I opened the door and told them that I am the captain of the vessel," he said.

"They requested that all of the staff lay on the floor face down, entered inside and yelled that the rest of the crew gather on the main deck," Galaktinov continued.

According to him, they demanded the crew to sprawl face down on the main deck with arms stretched in front of them and asked again "who was the Captain..."

"We then proceeded with one of the soldiers to my cabin, where we recovered my documents, because it was their demand," Galaktinov noted. "They told me to hand over the documents and everything else in my possession; they took away all mobile telephones."

After that, every member of the vessel’s crew proceeded to his cabin accompanied by an armed militant and did the same.

Izhevsky, the chief mate of the Azov Concord vessel, added that: "Afterwards, me myself and third engineer, were ushered at the gunpoint to the bridge of the vessel. One of them immediately approached me and, having flashed a chevron, said ‘I am Azov battalion’."

"I was nailed to the floor immediately and handcuffed," he continued. "The rest of the crew members were brought in later, sprawled face down and handcuffed. One of Azov militants used a rifle-but to demolish all of the on-board navigation and radio equipment.".