Moskva Cruiser: parents asked to issue statements saying conscripts died “as a result of disaster”

OLENA ROSHCHINA — TUESDAY, 24 MAY 2022, 14:54

In Russia, the parents of the crew of the sunken cruiser Moskva have been encouraged to voluntarily recognise their sons as "dead as a result of a disaster," meaning they would not count as combatants.

Source: Novaia gazeta. Evropa [New Gazette. Europe]

Details: Although more than a month has passed since 13 April, when the cruiser Moskva was struck in the Black Sea, the parents of conscripts who had been posted to the Russian Black Sea Fleet are still trying to get the truth from the command and are planning to sue the Russian Defence Ministry.

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has commented on the incident only once, stating that one [soldier was] killed and 27 servicemen are missing. The sailors’ parents have told Novaia Gazeta about 40 dead. The number of wounded and evacuees remains unknown.

Two mothers of missing sailors said they had been asked to voluntarily declare their sons "dead as a result of a disaster," but they refused.

According to these parents, "the whole cruiser was kept afloat thanks to conscripts," although by law they should not have been there. Conscripts were not on any list after the disaster; they allegedly did not fight [and were not among the combatants].

At a meeting with some relatives of sailors in Sevastopol, the Russian Command said that the cruiser Moskva was in neutral waters and was not a participant in hostilities, but they promised that the Moskva would be recognised as a participant in a "special military operation."

Officially, the families were not given information about the sinking of the cruiser, but the commander said "in confidence" that there had been three missiles: one flew past the ship, one hit the engine room and the other probably struck the mess.

He recognised the boys [conscripts] by their photos and confirmed that they had been on board. When one of the mothers asked hopefully whether the conscripts had been rescued, the commander replied negatively, barely holding back a laugh. Officially, the crew members the relatives are looking for are listed as missing.

The mothers [of the conscripts] believe that no rescue operation was carried out, instead that [officials] wasted time. Families were told different versions of events. The officials claimed that no one was injured.

The military enlistment office would send statements that "your son disappeared as a result of a catastrophe," and then would send another urging the parents to admit that their son's body "was not found because there was a catastrophe."

One Novaia Gazeta source did not agree to take delivery of this statement and refused to sign it, even though it would entitle her to claim insurance payments of "a little more than 7 million" [around 122,809 US dollars]. The woman is outraged that the statement mentions a catastrophe and does not say that her son was a participant in the "operation." She heard from the father of one of the sailors that some parents had been told that their son had participated in a "special military operation" and that they would be paid "combat pay". 

From wounded sailors, the woman heard a version that said a door on the cruiser was jammed and they could not get out, because "there was a lot of smoke and no one went down to get them out."

She heard that when the smoke started, the conscripts were thrown out of the porthole and that there they could have got under the screws, and could have drowned, or died from hypothermia. 

Quote from the mother of [one of the conscripts]: "The captain told me that they fought for survival for a long time, then they realised that everything was over there, and allowed everyone to jump overboard. They began to drop rafts. Then they lowered their boat from the cruiser. Then I heard another story about the ship that came to rescue them. And that that cruiser couldn’t be launched, as if something had broken there.

Everyone is left with the feeling that the guys [conscripts] are [still alive] somewhere. Because there are a lot of inconsistencies. If the command had called us and told everyone the same version of the story… But what we’re facing is kind of getting out of hand. "

Details: The mother of another 19-year-old sailor said that the leadership of the Russian Black Sea Fleet had not responded for a long time and had ignored the conscripts’ relatives. Only on 24 April, eleven days later, did the command report that her son was missing. She was told that divers were being used [to search for the missing conscripts], but that they had not found anyone. 

Background: 

• On 13 April, the Ukrainian authorities announced that they had struck the Russian cruiser Moskva with Neptune missiles.
• On 14 April, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed there had been an explosion on the cruiser, but said that the ammunition on board detonated, that the crew had been evacuated, and that the cruiser itself "kept afloat." Then the Russian Ministry said that the Moskva cruiser had sunk in a storm while being towed to Sevastopol. 
• Experts estimate that half of the crew were killed or injured. Investigative journalists believe that two-thirds of the crew of the Moskva cruise ship might have consisted of conscripts.
• Relatives of Moskva sailors have been looking for them, but they have been told that the cruiser was not performing a combat mission, and that the soldiers [conscripts] are missing. At the same time, the survivors said that the cruiser had been tasked with landing in Odesa.
• On 15 May, the Pivden [South] Operational Command published a recording of communications from the Moskva  that took place as the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was sinking.