Russia confirms one sailor dead, 27 missing post sinking of Black Sea warship 'Moskva'

In a first official update about the casualties on its missile cruiser Moskva that sank after alleged Ukrainian missile strike, Russia has claimed that at least one of its sailor died and 27 more are missing in aftermath of the devastating accident. As many as 396 other crew members were rescued, Russia’s defense ministry said, as cited by state affiliated RIA agency. 

“As a result of a fire on April 13, the Moskva missile cruiser was seriously damaged due to the detonation of ammunition,” the ministry said in a statement published on Friday. “One serviceman was killed, another 27 crew members went missing,” it said.

Moscow had claimed that entire crew onboard Moskva was evacuated; contradicts old statements

Moscow claims that Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, sank last week after a fire caused an explosion in the ammunition depot of the vessel. Ukraine’s Army claimed that it targeted the long contentious ship that attacked its forces on snake island with Neptune missiles. Russia's new claims contradict previous official statement, that said “As the result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser, ammunition detonated. The ship was seriously damaged. The crew was completely evacuated”.

“Russia’s MoD claims only one person died on board the sunk Moskva cruiser, with 27 ‘missing’ (is there another word for missing in the sea??) and 396 ‘evacuated to Sevastopol’. So they’re saying essentially 28 killed and 396 saved. Highly improbable given the damage,” Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian who is a lead Russia investigator at Bellingcat said in a tweet, expressing skepticism. 

A Russian sailor salutes on the bow of Missile Cruiser Moskva, left, as crew of Russian patrol ship Pitliviy, right, prepare to moor the vessel, in Sevastopol, Crimea. Credit: AP

Russia had initially claimed that the entire ship's crew was evacuated ahead of the sinking episode, right after the ammunition blast that was caused by the fire that ripped through the Moskva. "Attempts by the crew to extinguish the fire were not successful," RIA had quoted the defence ministry as saying. "During the struggle to stabilize the ship, one serviceman died and another 27 crew members went missing. The remaining 396 members of the crew were evacuated," it went on to add.

The Russian defense ministry later released footage depicting what they claimed was the navy head meeting with around 100 Moskva crew members who were deployed on Moskva and were brought to safety, a narrative that could be verified independently.

The 26-second footage showed Yevmenov and two other Russian Navy officers seen standing in front of around 100 sailors on a parade ground in what appeared to be a ceremony. Moscow's missile cruiser Moskva, named in honour of the Russian capital, was launched during the Cold War, and had been commissioned during conflicts in Georgia, Syria and Ukraine.

It was one of the largest war vessels in Moscow' fleet and during the Cold War, icarried nuclear weapons. During Russia’s war in its former republic of Georgia in 2008, Moskva took part in operations in the Black Sea, ans launched dangerous offensives and in 2014, as Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, Moskva reportedly blocked the Ukrainian naval vessels from leaving Lake Donuzlav.