Russia recognizes human casualties for the first time since the sinking of the Moskva River.
One sailor has died and 27 others are still missing after the sinking of the cruiser Moskva last week, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday, acknowledging casualties for the first time.
“One soldier was killed and 27 other crew members are missing,” the ministry was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies, saying the other 396 people on board had been evacuated. “The Department 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 Russia’s Black Sea fleet, which officially has a crew of up to 680, sank on April 14. Its sinking is widely seen as a humiliation for Russia and its fleet, and even pro-Kremlin commentators have demanded an explanation from the authorities.
Reviews are piling up
Russia claims the ship sank due to exploding ammunition on board and poor weather conditions hampered towing operations. But Ukraine says it sank the building with rockets.
The Russian authorities had so far reported no casualties in the sinking and initially even claimed that the entire crew had been evacuated. On Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry released a video purporting to show a meeting between the chief of the Navy and Moskva survivors.
In parallel, several testimonies published in Russian-language media and social networks in recent days have reported missing seafarers, including very young men doing military service. A man living in Crimea, Dmitry Chkrebets, who claims to be the father of a missing person, published a message on the social network Vkontakte on Sunday evening asking why his son, a conscript, was in a combat zone. A woman, Yulia Tsyvova, also told several media outlets that her son was missing.