“Mother of missing sailor questions Kremlin’s version of events in the sinking of the Moskva warship in Black Sea”

Olga Dubinina says that she still cannot accept the Kremlin’s version of the events related to the sinking of the “Moscow” in the Black Sea on April 14, 2022. As reported, the day before, two Ukrainian “Neptune” missiles were fired at a Russian warship. Witnesses said the heavily armed ship struck below the waterline, caught fire and sank. Not all the crew of “Moscow”, which included about 500 sailors, was saved. The official number of victims is still unknown, the Kremlin has marked dozens of sailors as “missing”, the media “Current Time” reports.

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A year later, after the sinking of the warship, opinions about the fate of the sailors continue to be divided. The mother of one ‘missing’ sailor refuses to accept compensation for the loss of her son. Russian officials ask her to sign a statement that her son Nikita Syromyasov is dead.

“I once asked my son if he was going to sign the contract, but he said: ‘No, not on the Moscow cruiser!’ I will think about it, but, no, it’s terrible there…”, Olga remembers what her son said.

Nikita was drafted in 2021. In March 2022, he spoke to his mother while already serving on “Moskva”.

“I asked him: ‘How are you?’, he replied not to ask him anything, because he must not reveal where he is,” Olga continues.

On April 13, the warship “Moskva” received a blow and sent an alarm signal. When the rescue ships reached it, the “Moskva” was in flames. After the ship sank, Nikita’s mom, Olga, received a call: “Your son has been declared missing…”

“I was stunned, ‘What do you mean lost? I do not understand.” I was panicked, hysterical, I don’t know how to describe it. I was told that my son’s chances of survival were slim because the water temperature was too low. But they said that they had evacuated everyone… Apparently not everyone,” says Olga.

Later, Nikita’s mother met the captain, who allegedly experienced the sinking of the ship. He told Olga a different version of her son’s death – he tried to convince the woman that his son was dead: “He stood in front of my eyes and cried because his friend also died on the ship. But his story sounded like a movie. I didn’t believe him.”

“He said that they tried to put out the fire, their masks melted. They couldn’t breathe, they vomited because of the smoke… He stood in front of my eyes on April 18 without a single scratch or burnt eyebrows. I also said that I don’t believe him,” continues Olga.

Russian officials then wanted to present Olga with a medal in her son’s name. “I told them, ‘You can put that medal in one place!’, I was very direct. But they continued, “If you sign these papers announcing the death of your son, you will receive compensation.” They talked about money, but I replied that they cannot prove that my son is dead,” says Olga.

Russian officials promised to bring in divers, but they found nothing, not a single body – it was all useless.

Families who signed death notices received about $130,000 in compensation. Some families still refuse to sign these documents. 27 sailors were marked as “missing”, later at least 17 of them were declared dead by a Russian court.

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