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Warship »Moskva« 2015
Photo:
Zhang Jiye / dpa
A week after the sinking of the Russian warship Moskva, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow reported the death of a crew member.
27 other sailors were missing, the ministry said on Friday, according to Russian news agencies.
The remaining 396 crew members of the guided missile cruiser that sank in the Black Sea on April 14 were rescued.
These are the first confirmations of deaths and missing from the Russian Ministry of Defense since the sinking of the ship.
Shortly after the incident, the ministry initially announced that the entire crew had been rescued.
The ministry did not issue a statement about the conflicting reports.
According to a 2015 decree issued by Putin in Russia, information about soldiers who were killed, injured or missing on board are classified as state secrets.
According to reports by independent Russian media, around 40 soldiers of the »Moskva« are said to have died.
The exact size of the crew is not yet clear
It is unclear exactly how many soldiers were on board the missile cruiser.
It is estimated that there were around 500 men.
In the past few years, Russian state media have given different figures about the size of the crew, ranging between 416 and 510 members (read more here.)
The "Moskva" sank on April 14 after a fire caused by exploded ammunition in stormy seas, at least that's how the Ministry of Defense in Moscow puts it. But according to meteorologists, the storm never happened.
There are serious doubts as to whether ammunition was the cause of the fire on board.
The Ukrainian army claims to have hit the missile cruiser with two "Neptun" anti-ship missiles.
The US Department of Defense confirmed this account.
"The crew's attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful," the Russian state agency Ria quoted the Defense Ministry as saying on Friday.
“One soldier was killed while trying to stabilize the ship, and 27 other crew members were missing.
The remaining 396 crew members were evacuated.«
The »Moskva« was considered the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy.
Together with other ships in the fleet, she had blocked the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol.
ngo/afp/AP/Reuters