20 KIA, 8 MIA. Full list of killed and missing sailors from the famous “Russian warship”—Moskva cruiser
Photo: Reuters
Twenty people were killed and eight others remain missing following the strike on the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, according to a press release that was issued and immediately deleted by the 2nd Western District Military Court last week. Mediazona, in collaboration with BBC News Russian and volunteers tracking Russian war losses, has established the identities of all 28 victims mentioned in the court files; eight men have still not been formally declared dead.
On January 22, nearly four years after the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet was lost, the Russian 2nd Western District Military Court confirmed that the cruiser Moskva had been destroyed by Ukrainian missiles and named the number of dead and missing.
The court’s press release, which was soon deleted, revealed that the cruiser had been sunk as a result of missile strikes by the Ukrainian army. In April 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense cited a different reason for the loss of the Moskva: the ship sank while being towed “in stormy conditions due to damage to the hull caused by a fire from the detonation of ammunition.”
The court found Andrey Shubin, commander of the Ukrainian Navy’s 406th Artillery Brigade, guilty of destroying the cruiser and sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment on charges of “international terrorism.” According to the investigation, it was Shubin who gave the order to launch missile strikes on the cruiser Moskva. The judgment cited official data on the victims: 20 crew members killed, 24 wounded, and eight sailors declared missing
Despite the fact that almost four years have passed since the sinking of the cruiser Moskva, neither the Ministry of Defence, the Black Sea Fleet, nor civil authorities have ever published a complete list of the dead and missing sailors.
Between July and September 2022, the Nakhimov Court in Sevastopol recognised 17 Moskva sailors as dead. Records of these decisions have since been erased, alongside tens of thousands of other cases recognising missing military personnel as deceased.
On the second anniversary of the cruiser’s sinking, a memorial appeared in a closed area opposite the place where the Moskva usually docked, listing only 19 names of its sailors. Dmitry Shkrebets, the father of one of the victims, claimed that neither he nor the cruiser’s captain were invited to the ceremony.
At least 20 of those who died were conscripts. Most of the casualties were residents of annexed Crimea or Sevastopol (15 people), while three were conscripted from the Russian Far East.
Mediazona is now publishing the full list of sailors who died on the cruiser Moskva for the first time; eight men have still not been declared dead.
Photos: social media
Still listed as missing
1. Dmitry Aksenov, 20, conscript, sailor from Petrovsk-Zabaykalsk, Zabaykalsky krai.
2. Sergey Grudinin, 21, conscript, sailor from the village of Ilyinovka, Oktyabrsky district, Amur region.
3. Valery Krivorog, 37, captain lieutenant from Sevastopol.
4. Igor Kutnyak, 22, conscript, sailor from Sevastopol.
5. Muhammed Murtazaev, 18, conscript, sailor from Maiske, Dzhankoi distict, Crimea.
6. Nikita Sytomyasov, 20, conscript, sailor from Sysert, Sverdlovsk retion.
7. Mark Tarasov, 24, conscript, sailor from St. Petersburg.
8. Andrei Tsyvov, 19, conscript, sailor from Ilyivhevo, Leninsky district, Crimea.
Confirmed as killed in action
1. Takhir Afshagov, 40, senior sailor from Sevastopol.
2. Vitaly Begersky, 20, conscript, senior sailor from Nikloayevsk-na-Amure, Khabarovsky krai.
3. Dmitry Cheremiskin, 39, senior miсhman (midshipman) from Lema, Zuyevsky district, Kirov region.
4. Pavel Efimov, 21, conscript, sailor from Samara.
5. Nikita Efremenko, 19, conscript, sailor from Priozersk, Leningrad region.
6. Ivan Frantin, 23, conscript, sailor from Padany, Karelia.
7. Vyacheslav Geplyuk, 35, captain lieutenant from Sevastopol.
8. Danil Gerok, 22, senior sailor from Sevastopol.
9. Daniil Kitaev, 18, conscript, senior sailor from Balaklava, Sevastopol.
10. Vladimir Kovalev, 22, senior sailor from Melikhovskaya, Ust-Donetsky district, Rostov region.
11. Akim Kozyr, 23, conscript, private from Sevastopol.
12. Maxim Naumkin, 23, lieutenant from Ussuriysk, Primorsky krai.
13. Sergei Pozdnyakov, 19, conscript, private from Zybiny, Belgorodsky district, Crimea.
14. Artyom Pustovet, 18, conscript, sailor from Krasnodar.
15. Leonid Savin, 20, conscript, sailor from Alupka, Crimea.
16. Georgy Shakuro, 20, conscript, sailor from Sevastopol.
17. Ilya Shcherbina, 20, conscript, sailor from Novozybkov, Bryansk retion.
18. Viktor Shirinkin, 20, conscript, sailor from Krasnorechenka, Gribanovsky district, Voronezh region.
19. Egor Shkrebets, 20, conscript, private from Sevastopol.
20. Ivan Vakhrushev, 41, senior miсhman (midshipman) from Sevastopol.
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