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The sinking of the Russian warship Moskva creates tension at home, with some families raising questions about the fate of the crew and a prominent state TV host demanding answers about how the debacle came about.
The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet sank last week after being hit by two Ukrainian missiles, dealing a significant blow to Russia’s naval capacity, US and Ukrainian officials said.
Russia confirmed the ship had sunk but only said it was damaged by “severe storms” and a fire that caused ammunition on board to explode. On April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry said that all crew members had been evacuated from the ship. Authorities have not confirmed any deaths or injuries.
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But the mother of one sailor said her surviving son told her about 40 people died and many were injured and missing. The Novaya Gazeta Europe newspaper published the unnamed woman’s comments on Sunday, saying it had reviewed documents showing the son had served in the Navy but no concrete evidence that he had been aboard the Moskva. as she sank.
“There are dead, wounded, missing. My son called me when they got phones. They left their documents and [their personal] phones on the [ship]. He calls me and cries at what he saw. It was scary. It is clear that not all survived,” said the mother, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fears for her safety.
Questions from other people claiming to be relatives of Moskva crew members also surfaced on social media and were picked up by Russian media. The Washington Post was unable to reach the account holders to verify the information.
On Sunday, a user of social media platform VKontakte said the ship’s commanders had informed him that his son Yegor, a conscript, was missing in the tragedy.
Russia previously said the entire crew had been evacuated. It’s a lie! A brazen and cynical lie!” Dmitry Shkrebets wrote.
“After my attempts to clarify the details of the incident, the cruiser commander and his deputy stopped communicating with me,” Shkrebets wrote. “I ask all those who are not afraid and are not indifferent, spread this call of mine wherever you can” so that the tragedy is not covered up.
In a later post, Shkrebets said three families from different parts of Russia had contacted him to say their children were also missing from the sunken ship.
Meanwhile, on state-controlled Russian television, a well-respected presenter said he was “angry” about the sinking and expressed a rare dissatisfaction with the authorities.
“Just tell me how you managed to lose it! Tell me why the hell you were in that part of the Black Sea at that time,” Vladimir Solovyov asked during his weekend prime-time show. “Why didn’t your fire suppression system work and the ship burned practically from the inside out?”