UPDATE ON APRIL 21
I am going to go back to putting a question-mark on this story, because today I came across a site that says there is a fake Russian state website putting out information. Today, the fake story was that Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellite had guided the Moskva fire/strike and that Russia was going to retaliate. That turned out to be a fake. That makes me think that the confirmation below of the Osipov arrest might also have been put out by the fake Russian site and not the real government site and that Crooks and Liars might not have been able to tell the difference. RepublicWorld in India also ran with today’s fake story about Musk and Starlink.
ORIGINAL POST
From Crooks and Liars:
The commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, Admiral Igor Osipov , has been removed from his post. This was reported by the portal of the United Russia party ruling in the Russian Federation, citing party chairman Dmitry Medvedev , who is also deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
“The chairman of the United Russia party announced the dismissal of Osipov I.V. – Commander of Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy during the investigation of the reasons for the loss of the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet,” the statement said.
Russian social networks also report on the arrest of Igor Osipov. Eyewitnesses claim that the arrest of Admiral Osipov was carried out by people in civilian clothes.
According to Russian publics, Admiral Igor Osipov was on board the Moskva at the time of the attack by the Ukrainian military. Witnesses report that either Admiral Osipov himself or his adjutant was severely beaten during his arrest.
The part about Osipov or his adjutant being beaten has not been verified and is just a report by eyewitnesses circulating on social media sites. Also, pictures of a vessel resembling the Moskva, showing damage and sinking, are not confirmed, although media outlets from the Mirror to the New York Times are running with it.
The Pentagon is claiming that they know the Moskva was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles.
Russia’s MOD has only said that there was a fire on board and then an explosion that caused the evacuation of the crew.
Casualty figures are also all over the place. Ukraine outlets have claimed that almost the entire 510 members of the crew were wiped out. But Russia has released a video showing somewhere between 100-200 crewmen who survived. The 26-second video was taken on Saturday and showed the head of the Russian Navy, Admiral Yevmenov meeting with surviving crewmen of the Moskva in the Crimea.
Western media are reporting that family members of survivors claim extensive [200 approx] casualties with severe burns in the Crimean military hospital. Russia has admitted officially that around 50 of the crew did not survive.
A Turkish think-tank has suggested that Turkish-made TB2 drones assisted the strike, [see also this] perhaps serving as a distraction. Apparently, this is supported by open-source information indicating Turkish drone activity in the area.