Last Thursday, the Moskva, one of the flagships of the Russian fleet, sank in the Black Sea after being torpedoed by two Ukrainian missiles. Since then, the Russian authorities have constantly minimized this loss and concealed the human toll, even ensuring that the crew had been evacuated. Some relatives of the disappeared, however, no longer hesitate to publicly demand accountability from the State. The reasons for the sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva last Thursday in the Black Sea are hardly in doubt. If Russia first mentioned a simple explosion of ammunition on board, it is now established that this flagship of the Kremlin fleet was sunk after being hit the day before by two Ukrainian “Neptune” missiles. The fate of the 510 members of its crew still raises questions. Five days after the ship was sunk, and while the Moscow regime began to recognize the first losses among its sailors, families left without news of their loved ones publicly demand accountability from the state. The Guardian published their testimonies on Monday. “He was 19, he was a conscript” This is a new chapter in the communication war that is superimposed on the fighting between Ukrainians and Russians. The executive of the Russian Federation first claimed that the crew of the Moskva could have been rescued and evacuated before the sinking. On Monday, however, he had already formalized the deaths of two sailors. And among them, the son of Yulia Tsivova. “They didn’t tell me anything else, I had no information about his funeral,” she tearfully told the Guardian by phone after her government confirmed to him that Andrei would not return from the war. “I’m sure he’s not the only one to have lost his life,” she added, continuing: “He was 19, he was a conscript.” the Russian power had sworn to preserve the lives of these young recruits, mobilized without being professional soldiers. Yegor, the son of Dmitry Shkrebets, was also a conscript. He officiated as a cook on the Moskva. In a message sent to the British daily, he stressed: “A conscript – who is therefore not supposed to take an active part in combat – is among the missing. But how can one be reported missing on the high seas?”200 injured in a hospital Crimean militaryThe bereaved father goes further in his questioning of the official speeches: “They said that the whole crew had been evacuated. But that’s a lie! A cruel, cynical lie”. His wife, Irina, has told the independent Russian media The Insider their visit to a Crimean hospital, where the injured were sent, in search of their son. A trip that did not allow them to find him and raises more questions than it gave them answers. “We looked at all these burned kids. I can’t tell you how hard it was, but we haven’t found our son.” “There were 200 there,” she said: “But there were more than 500 on board. Where did the others go?” Not all relatives of the missing have the audacity of the Shkrebets, who say have been contacted by three other families wishing to join in their efforts. Dmitry Shkrebets even put his request in writing. He sent a formal request for information concerning Iegor’s fate to the conscription office where he was recruited. “We need written answers to our questions about our children, not text messages with photos and prayers,” he explained. video apparently showing the meeting between Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, boss of the national navy, and the sailors of the Moskva after the sinking. In the middle of the few dozen sailors present during this scene, Eskender Djeparov was in any case happy to recognize his brother Akbar, as he slipped to the Guardian: “We were really very happy to see him in this video of the crew in Sevastopol.” He claimed that his household had even been able to get him on the phone: “The day after the tragedy, he called our mother, to tell her that he was alive, that he was fine . That she shouldn’t be worried.” “He didn’t tell us what happened, he doesn’t talk a lot.” BFMTV journalist