A sailor has died and 27 others are still missing after the sinking of the cruiser Moskva last week, the Russian Defense Ministry said, acknowledging casualties in the sinking for the first time. “A serviceman was killed and 27 other crew members are missing,” the ministry said, quoted by Russian news agencies, saying the other 396 people on board had been evacuated.
“The Ministry of Defense is providing all necessary support and assistance to the families and friends of the deceased and missing,” he added. The Moskva, flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, which can officially count up to 680 crew members, sank on April 14.
Two versions oppose between Russians and Ukrainians
The sinking of the Moskva is widely seen as a humiliation for Russia and its fleet, and even pro-Kremlin commentators have demanded an explanation from the authorities. Russia claims the vessel sank due to exploding ammunition on board and poor weather conditions hampering towing operations. But Ukraine says it sank the building with missiles.
The Russian authorities had so far announced no loss during the sinking, even claiming at first that the entire crew had been evacuated.
Several messages published in the Russian media
On Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a video presented as showing a meeting between the chief of the navy and the survivors of the Moskva. However, in parallel, several testimonies published by Russian-language media and on social networks in recent days have reported missing sailors, including very young men performing their military service.
A man living in Crimea, Dmitry Chkrebets, presenting himself as the father of a missing person, published a message on the social network Vkontakte on Sunday evening where he asks why his son, a conscript, was in a combat zone. A woman, Yulia Tsyvova, also told several media that her son was missing.