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Warship «Moskva» 2015
Photo: Zhang Jiye / dpa
After the sinking of the Russian warship Moskva in the Black Sea, the Russian Ministry of Defense released a video that is said to show members of the crew.
Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Yevmenov met with the sailors in Sevastopol, the agency said.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet has its main base in the city on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
The nearly half-minute clip features dozens of young men in black uniforms.
How many there are exactly is difficult to estimate due to sequences that have been edited together.
It is also not possible to check at the present time whether it is the approximately 500 crew members who are said to have been on the »Moskva« at the time of the accident.
Seven weeks after Russia's war against Ukraine began, the Moskva was badly damaged on Wednesday and then sunk.
There is disagreement as to whether the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was hit by Ukrainian "Neptune" missiles or, as the Russian side claims, was damaged by ammunition detonation.
According to US information, up to 500 crew members were on board.
Moscow said the crew had been evacuated before the boat sank.
A spokeswoman for the southern Ukrainian forces, Natalya Humenyuk, however, said that Russian lifeboats could not get to the burning Moskva properly and could not save the sailors.
scr/dpa