Russia's Moskva Missile Cruiser Sinks, Sevastopol Senator: We Will Preserve His Memories

Russia's Moskva 121 missile cruiser. (Wikimedia Commons/George Chernilevsky)

JAKARTA - The memory of the sunken Black Sea Fleet Guards missile cruiser, Moskva 121, should be preserved in Sevastopol as the head of the Fleet naval base, historian and senator from Sevastopol Yekaterina Altabayeva said on Friday.

"Of course we will think about how to preserve the memory. This has to be done. We will find a way to do it and will preserve it. Words fail and hearts break because it (the cruiser) is part of Sevastopol," Altabayeva told TASS on Hari Raya Friday, as quoted April 16.

As the Russian Ministry of Defense previously reported on Friday, the main ship Moskva lost stability due to hull damage suffered in a fire from an ammunition explosion and sank in a heavy storm as it was towed to its destination. The cause of the fire is being determined, he said.

The aircraft carrier of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Moskva 121, has always been a symbol for Sevastopol. His loss is suffering for the city's residents, said Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev.

"For Sevastopol, the cruiser has become a genuine symbol. And, of course, we all feel pain today," wrote Razvozhayev on his Telegram channel.

The governor posted a 2008 photo of the warship entering the Gulf of Sevastopol and being greeted with the Russian flag on shore and on small boats.

It is known, the guided-missile cruiser Moskva entered service in the Soviet Navy in 1982. In the early 1990s, the Moskva (named Slava at that time) was decommissioned.

The warship reentered service with the Russian Navy in 1999 thanks to the assistance of the Moscow Government headed by Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who later received its current name.

In the second half of 2015, the cruiser led the Russian Navy's Mediterranean task force, where it protected Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria with its air defense weapons.

On July 22, 2016, the cruiser Moskva was awarded the Nakhimov Naval Order. In 2020, Russian shipbuilders have completed repairs and upgrades of the warship that lasted several years. Its flagship Moskva is expected to serve a 60-year record until 2040.

The cruiser Moscow is the flagship of Project 1164 'Atlant'. As its main armament, the warship carries 16 P-1000 Vulkan missile launchers with an attack range of more than 700 km.

As previously reported, the main ship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva 121 was badly damaged and its crew evacuated, after being hit by an explosion which Ukraine claimed was the result of a missile attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser caused the ammunition to explode, the Interfax news agency reported.

"As a result of a fire on the missile cruiser Moskva, ammunition exploded. The ship was badly damaged. The crew was completely evacuated," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, but Maksym Marchenko, governor of Ukraine in the area around the Black Sea port of Odesa, said the warship Moskva had been hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.

"Neptune's missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage," he said in an online post.

Ukraine's defense ministry did not respond to requests for comment and Reuters was unable to verify the claims of either side.

The Moskva is the second major ship known to have suffered serious damage since the start of the war. Last month Ukraine said it had destroyed a landing support vessel, the Orsk, in the Sea of Azov.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry announced the missile cruiser Moskva 121, the main ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed after sustaining severe damage on Friday.