Russia’s pride aflame and sinking... as crew’s parents cry: Where are our sons?
The PR deceit — and the cruel reality
THE anguished parents of sailors ‘missing’ after missiles struck a Russian warship have demanded of Vladimir Putin: ‘Where are our sons?’
They want the Kremlin to admit how many died when the Moskva sank amid claims of a cover-up last night.
Moscow insists almost all the vessel’s 514 crew were rescued.
As a dramatic video and images emerged last night showing the warship on fire following the attack, Kremlin officials also released footage of a supposed ceremony for survivors.
But the clip appears clumsily doctored, with the same sailors seeming to appear multiple times and the tree foliage suggesting the film was made at a different time of year. Yesterday, at the risk of being censured or even arrested, desperate parents of crew members broke their silence.
They fear the death toll from the Moskva is at least 40 and could be much higher. Western military sources have suggested it could be in the hundreds.
Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles fired by Ukraine struck the ship’s port side, targeting her engines and starting a propellant fuel fire.
Moscow, however, says a fire onboard caused ammunitions to explode and the vessel sank as it was being towed in a storm.
The ship was the Russian Navy’s command and control centre in the Black Sea, coordinating missile strikes on cities in southern Ukraine. Huge plumes of black smoke can be seen towering above the listing vessel following Wednesday morning’s attack. She sank later that day.
Irina Shkrebets, whose son Egor was a chef, described searching hospital wards crammed with severely burned sailors. She said: ‘I looked at every burnt kid. I can’t tell you how hard it was, but I couldn’t find mine.
‘There were only 200 people [in the hospital] and there were more than 500 on the ship. Where were the others? I asked a navy commander for information but he said, “I won’t tell you anything”.’
Egor’s father Dmitry said his son was a conscript who should not have been sent to a warzone and vowed to dedicate his life to discovering what happened.
He said: ‘The cruiser’s commander and his deputy stopped communicating after my attempts to clarify the details of the incident. I asked them directly, “Why are you officers alive and my son, a conscript, has died?” I ask everyone who is not afraid, not indifferent, to spread this appeal of mine.
‘A man whose son was taken away in such a vile way is not afraid of anything.’
The mother of another sailor said many crew were listed as missing, rather than dead, to spare the Kremlin embarrassment over losing so many personnel. She said: ‘There are dead, there are wounded, there are missing. My son was crying when he called me to say what he saw. It was terrifying. Clearly not everyone made it alive. A lot have lost limbs.’
A Russian TV presenter also raised questions about the Moskva.
During his prime time show Vladimir Solovyov said: ‘Explain to me how you managed to lose it. Why did your fire extinguishers not work? The ship burned from the inside out.’
Last night, former Royal Navy officer Rear Admiral Chris Parry said the Moskva had not been ‘properly prepared for action’ and suggested the internal fire could have been contained.
The absence of the ship’s life rafts and the positioning of its crane in the footage indicate rescue boats were launched. The missiles hit the Moskva amidships, destroying her propulsion and electrical power systems. These compartments would have given off the largest radar ‘signature’.
As the warship was constructed in Ukraine, its attackers may have been able to study its schematics. Her sister ship, laid up at Mykolaiv port, shares the same layout.
‘Wards crammed with burnt sailors’