THAT Sinking of the Russian main ship in the Black Sea, the cruiser MoskvaLeft 37 dead, as reported by the independent Russian portal Meduza, citing anonymous sources.
About 500 people were on board the ship, which according to military sources sank after being hit by two Neptune missiles, of whom around 100 were injured. The number of missing is still unknown.
The Meduza portal, which was declared a “foreign agent” and blocked by the Russian government in March but continues to operate from Latvia, cites “a responsible person” in the Black Sea Navy as the source of this information.
The sinking of the Moskva took place last week and was confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry, although the circumstances have not yet been specified. Hours earlier, Kyiv had reported several explosions on the ship caused by Ukrainian missiles hitting it.
The ship attempted to be towed to a safe haven while the Russian command assured that the crew had been evacuated. Moscow eventually confirmed the sinking, which it attributed to “circumstances” arising from a storm.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung claims in its Tuesday edition (19) on the basis of anonymous Russian sources that, contrary to the Kremlin’s official versions, there were recruits on board the Moskva.
The sources also deny that the entire crew of the Moskva was rescued.
“It’s a lie, a vulgar and cynical lie,” wrote Dimitri Schkrebes on the Russian social network VKontakte about the Kremlin’s official version.
According to the newspaper, Shkrebes’ eldest son, Yegor, was recruited in Yalta late last year to do his military service aboard the Moskva, where he served as a cook.
The newspaper claims that some journalists referred to an article in a Russian Navy publication last December showing a photo of Yegor Shkrebes identified as a cook.
Dimitri Schkrebes claims his son is on a list of missing members of the Moskva crew.
The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which has ceased publication in Russia and now has a European online edition, last weekend published the account of a woman whose son also served aboard the Moscow River, she said.
The woman, who refused to be identified for fear of reprisals, said her son survived, called from Ukraine last Friday and told her about 40 people had died, many were injured and others were missing.