The missile cruiser “Moscow” sank in the Black Sea on Thursday. On Monday, Putin’s spokesman said Russia was aware of images circulating on social media.
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It was Wednesday night last week that it became known that the flagship in the Russian Black Sea Fleet was on fire and that there were explosions on board.
The next day, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the ship had sunk. They claimed that explosions in the ammunition depots led to the fire on the ship, and that it then sank while being towed in “stormy sea”.
But Ukraine and the United States say there was one Ukrainian missile attack which lowered the pride of Russia’s navy.
So far, there have been few photos and videos that have supported the course of events.
But Monday has several media outlets, including BBCpublished photos that have been circulating on social media and which are supposed to show the ship’s last minutes where it is on fire and lying crooked in the water surface.
In the photos, which have not been verified, you can see black smoke rising from the front of the ship.
And on the same day, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov comments on these photos.
– We have seen the pictures, but we can not say how authentic they are, he says according to that Russian news agency Interfax.
VG has compared the pictures with previous photos published by the ship and found more details that match, but the photos are not verified.
It is currently unclear who published the photos first. The Guardians Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth believes, however, that the unverified image may be the first to be published after the warship was allegedly attacked.
See more photos of the ship before it sank in the gallery below:
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The huge missile cruiser was built in the 80s and according to researcher Kristian Åtland at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) should have been in service for another 18 years, until 2040.
To VG, he refers to a case in 2020 about the flagship from the Kremlin-controlled news agency Tass.
Regardless of the course of events, the sinking of “Moscow” is a defeat for Russia, according to Lieutenant Colonel Palle Ydstebø at the War School.
The flagship played an important role in Russia’s warfare, both as a command vessel and in the context of air defense, according to the British Ministry of Defense.
This is because the missile cruiser had so-called surface-to-air missiles, which allowed it to shoot down missiles and planes into the air.
It is currently unclear how things have gone with that ship’s crew of around 500 people. Russia has claimed that all were evacuated to other ships.
But it has been claimed by Ukraine that the captain of the ship was killed in the alleged attack. Throughout the war, Russia has been very reluctant to comment on Russian losses.
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