The Russian cruiser Moskva sank during its towing

LAST UPDATE 23:50

The flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, Moskva (“Moscow”), sank during its towing, as announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense and broadcast by Russian media.

“During its towing at the port of destination, the Moskva lost its stability due to damage to the hull after an ammunition explosion. Under turbulent conditions, the ship sank,” the Russian Ria Novosti reported.

The fate of the rocket cruiser Moskva, which was the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, turned into a thriller.

The southern military command of the Ukrainian army announced on Thursday morning that it hit the Russian cruiser “Moskva” with Neptune anti-ship missiles causing great damage, while adding that the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has begun to sink. The southern military administration said on Facebook that the fire in “Moskva” started after the blow. He added that the work of the Russian rescue ships was hampered by the explosions of the ammunition carried by the cruiser, as well as the bad weather conditions.

Ukrainian officials say the Russian cruiser was hit by rockets fired at Neptune surface ships. “Neptune missiles protecting the Black Sea have caused extensive damage to this Russian ship,” said Maxim Martchenko, the Ukrainian governor of the Odessa region.

Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, also spoke on YouTube about Ukrainian strikes on the cruiser, calling it a “surprise to the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.” “It is on fire with great intensity. Now. And with the storm, it is impossible to know if they can help it,” he said, adding that “510 crew members are on board”.

CNN reported that the Russian ship “either sails abandoned or is at the bottom of the Black Sea”, while the American network spoke of a “big blow” to the Moscow forces that have found themselves in the dark with the Ukrainian resistance, about 50 days after initiation of the invasion.

“As a result of the fire, there was an explosion of ammunition in Moskva. The ship was severely damaged. The crew evacuated the ship,” the Russian Defense Ministry said at noon, according to TASS, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies.

Shortly before 6 pm (Greek time), a US Department of Defense official stressed that Washington believes that Moskva is on fire, with Russian forces trying to contain the fire, while sailing slowly to Sevastopol, a Russian-occupied city. of Ukraine in the Crimea.

According to a Daily Mail report, Ukraine allegedly used Turkish-made Bayraktar drones to divert the ship’s missile defenses, allowing two Neptune missiles fired from a coastal array to pass covertly.

They hit the ship on the left side, the sources claimed, causing it to tilt. Unstable conditions at sea combined with the slope meant that the ship began to take water.

Anadolu’s Russian-language Twitter account posted a video allegedly showing the moment of the explosion in Moskva.

Moskva was involved in the early days of the offensive against the Black Sea island of Snakes near the Romanian border, when 19 members of the Ukrainian navy were captured and later exchanged for Russian prisoners.

The Soviet origin

The 186-meter Atlant missile-class cruiser was put into service in 1983, during the Soviet era, under the name Slava (Glory). His mission is the destruction of aircraft carriers.

It was renamed Moskva in May 1995. It was armed with 16 Bazalt / Voulkan anti-ship missiles, Fort missiles, the naval version of the S-300 long-range missiles, and Ossa short-range missiles. It also had rocket launchers, cannons and torpedoes.

According to the Ria Novosti agency, Moskva has been modernized twice in its history, the second in the period 2018-2020.

His crew consisted of 680 men, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Three wars

Its first war was the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008. Russia has not provided information on its missions, but according to a high-ranking Georgian official, the Russian cruiser entered the port of Ochamchire to bomb Georgian troops in the Kontori Valley. forces, which then lost control of the last zone they still held in the separatist region of Abkhazia.

The then President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev had expressed his “gratitude” to the crew of the warship for its “courage and determination” during the conflict.

Following Russia’s intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad in the war in Syria, Moskva was deployed from September 2015 to January 2016 in the eastern Mediterranean to ensure, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the “air defense” of the Russian base of Hmeimim.

Shortly afterwards, Vladimir Putin awarded the entire crew the Nakhimov Medal for his “courage and determination.”

Diplomatic missions

The cruiser Moskva, still called Slava, took part in the Malta summit between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George W. Bush on the Maxime Gorki ship in December 1989, shortly after the fall of the Wall.

The ship also participated in the Yalta Nuclear Disarmament Conference in August 1990.

He took part in military exercises and visited many European, Asian and African ports.

It had also hosted foreign leaders. Vladimir Putin received Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi or, during his visit to Italy, the then Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi in Sochi in August 2014 with military honors.

Source: Capital

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