A court in Russia has for the first time recognized that the cruiser “Moskva” was destroyed by Ukraine

Shortly after the court’s announcement was published, the Russians deleted the press release.

After four years of full-scale war, the Russian military court officially recorded for the first time that the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the “Moskva”, was destroyed by the Ukrainian military. RBC-Ukraine writes about this.

The court stated in its verdict that the commander of the 406th artillery brigade of the Ukrainian Navy, Andriy Shubin, was “involved” in the sinking of the “Moskva” on April 14, 2022, and allegedly gave orders for missile strikes on the ship near Zmiiniy Island.

By the same ruling, Shubin was indicted for the defeat of the frigate Admiral Essen on April 2, 2022, and a civil lawsuit was filed for 2.2 billion rubles (about $28.4 million).

The press release of the ship, which later disappeared, reported 20 dead, 24 wounded and 8 missing from the crew of the “Moskva”, as well as more than six hours of fighting for the ship’s survivability. At the same time, one wounded person was reported for the Admiral Essen.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry insisted on the version of “fire and detonation of ammunition” and claimed that the crew was completely evacuated. Ukraine, however, officially announced in April 2022 that the Moskva was hit by Neptun anti-ship missiles, after which the cruiser sank.

USM also reported the day before that the captain of the ship, which was detained due to damage to the submarine cable, was involved in the transportation of weapons from Iran to the Russian Federation.