Ukrainian authorities announced on Thursday that they declared the site of the wreck of the Russian cruiser that sank on April 14 a cultural heritage site.
Conflicts generally destroy heritage. Sometimes they create them too. A week after the sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva in the Black Sea, Ukraine announced on Thursday that it had included the wreck of the warship in the register of underwater cultural property. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, invoking the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, clarified that the ship’s remains were redesignated as Underwater Remains No. 2064 as “rare scientific or technical equipment”.
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Ukrainian authorities claim this measure by including the wreck site in Ukraine’s exclusive economic zone, which according to maritime law extends up to 370 kilometers offshore. “Only 80 nautical miles (more than a hundred kilometers, editor’s note) from Odessa, the famous cruiser, the largest wreck lying at the bottom of the Black Sea, can be admired without much difficulty!”, laughed the notice from the Ministry of Ukraine, about the classified ship and which would be resting at about 40-50 meters depth.
However, the Moskva wreck’s monumental status could not be recognized internationally, certainly not by Russia, which is not a signatory to the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage. “Ukraine is playing the head of Russia,” Politico Eden Sarid, a law professor at the University of Essex and a specialist in underwater cultural heritage in particular, commented to the American media.
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A unilateral and hasty gesture
According to the expert, in addition to Russia’s non-participation in the convention signed in 2001, Ukraine faces two other legal obstacles. First, the wreck would be far too recent to claim registration as underwater cultural heritage, while the text of the Convention allows that designation only for objects that have been underwater for more than a century. The wreck of the Titanic, for example, was only placed under UNESCO protection in 2012, 100 years after its tragic sinking. For their part, the many wrecks from the Second World War are still not protected.
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After all, according to the expert, the wreck of the Moskva would still belong to Russia, since the Unesco Convention does not change the rules of international law regarding the sovereignty of states. True to its sense of humor, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry’s digital communications service suggested on Thursday that listing the wreck as national heritage would, in short, “compensate for the lack of underwater tractors.” [leurs] farmers and [leurs] fisherman”.
According to Ukrainian forces, the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, sank on April 14 after being hit by two Neptun anti-ship missiles. On the other hand, according to Russia, the cruiser sank after an ammunition explosion on board the ship during a storm. After the Russian Ministry of Defense had been silent for several days about the loss of life, it drew a first balance sheet on Friday, which was set at 28 victims: one dead and 27 missing. According to the Russian authorities, the 396 other sailors on the Moskva were evacuated.