Russian military court takes down press release confirming that the cruiser Moskva was hit by Ukrainian missiles, killing 20 crew members

Moscow’s 2nd Western District Military Court has issued a verdict in a case related to the sinking of the cruiser Moskva and an attack on the frigate Admiral Essen in April 2022. The commander of Ukraine’s 406th Naval Artillery Brigade, Andriy Shubin, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison on charges of international terrorism. In its ruling, the Russian court acknowledged that 20 members of the Moskva’s crew were killed during the attack, 24 were wounded, and eight were listed as missing.

A press release containing that information was removed from the court’s website shortly after publication, the independent Russian publication Mediazona reported, noting that the court for the first time acknowledged that the Moskva was hit by a missile strike.

“Twenty members of the cruiser’s crew died as a result of the explosion, fire and smoke, twenty-four crew members sustained bodily injuries of varying severity, and eight people went missing, including during efforts to keep the ship afloat that lasted more than six hours,” the deleted statement by the court’s press service said. According to the court, one person was wounded aboard the frigate Admiral Essen.

After the strike, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed the cruiser sank as a result of a fire that triggered the detonation of ammunition onboard the vessel. Ukrainian sources, meanwhile, reported that the ship had been struck by two Neptune anti-ship missiles. In the fall of that year, a court in Sevastopol declared 17 sailors who served aboard the cruiser dead, based on petitions from the unit commander and the sailors’ parents. Some of those killed were conscripts.