Last week, a military court in Moscow made a significant legal statement admitting for the first time that the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship, the “Moskva” (Moscow), was sunk by Ukrainian missiles and not due to the previously claimed “mysterious fire accident.”
According to reports from independent Russian media outlet Mediazona and CNN, this revelation came during a court ruling last Thursday at the Western District Military Court in Moscow. The court found Ukrainian Navy’s 406th Artillery Brigade Commander, Andriy Shubin, guilty of “international terrorism” and sentenced him to life imprisonment for ordering the attack on the “Moskva” as well as another escort ship, the “Admiral Essen.”
The initial press release from the court explicitly stated, “On April 13, 2022, the guard missile cruiser ‘Moskva’ was hit by two missiles, causing explosions and fire with smoke spreading throughout the ship.” The statement even provided detailed casualty figures, citing that the attack resulted in the deaths of 20 crew members, 24 injuries, and 8 missing individuals.
Despite the swift removal of this “truth-telling” statement from the court’s website shortly after its publication, Mediazona successfully downloaded and archived it. CNN later sought confirmation from the court and Russian military, but both parties declined to comment.
Since the sinking of the “Moskva” in April 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense has maintained that the ship was lost due to an ammunition explosion caused by a fire and subsequently sank during tow to a port amidst a storm. At the time, Russia claimed that all crew members had been evacuated, acknowledging only one death and 27 missing individuals, which starkly contrasts with the newly revealed 20 deaths and the fact that the ship was hit by two missiles disclosed by the court.
Ukraine had already declared early on that two domestically-produced “Neptune” anti-ship missiles had targeted the vessel. Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk told CNN that Russia can no longer deny the truth, especially as the families of the deceased crew members have been publicly speaking out in recent years, unraveling the official cover-up.
The “Moskva” was once the pride of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and its loss is considered one of the most humiliating defeats for the Russian military since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. This ten-thousand-ton cruiser was a symbol of Russian power in the Black Sea.
The court’s “about-face” statement is seen as a significant propaganda blunder under the Kremlin’s tight control over public opinion. For years, any Russian journalist or citizen questioning the official narrative of “special military operations” has faced accusations of “spreading false information” and imprisonment. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 27 journalists are currently incarcerated in Russia for reporting the truth about the war.