Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ At least 37 Russian sailors were reportedly killed when the landing ship Novocherkassk was destroyed in December 2023. However, only one has been confirmed dead and the rest are still officially 'missing', leaving relatives without compensation. ⬇️

https://twitter.com/i/status/1739640557821935850/video/1

2/ It was previously reported that at least 77 crew were on board, almost all of whom were either killed or injured by the initial Storm Shadow strike on the ship or the huge explosion that followed about ten minutes later.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1740786700975219144

3/ The ship was reportedly under repair at the time. A source says it had been used for a couple of months "in different ways, including not for its intended purpose." It was "packed to the brim" with an unspecified secret cargo – allegedly Iranian kamikaze drones.

4/ The Novocherkassk has since reportedly been removed from its berth in Feodosia and will be cut apart. This will enable the Russian military authorities to remove the bodies of those who failed to escape the explosions. DNA samples were taken from relatives in January 2024.

5/ However, this is expected to be a slow process, taking up to six months. Only one sailor has been declared dead so far. The rest are still officially missing.

6/ One relative says: "Every parent thinks that their child was able to survive. Therefore, we still have hope that he is somewhere, maybe someone is helping him, maybe he is unconscious.”

7/ Another relative is more realistic: "Everyone who survived, survived, those who were 'missing' died, their relatives know about them, there are no living but unidentified people in hospitals."

8/ The dead man has been named as senior sailor Igor Meshcheryakov (pictured), a native of the city of Shakhty, Rostov region and posthumous holder of the "For Courage" medal. His mother's story illustrates the obstacles facing the families in determining their relatives' status.

9/ Igor's parents are both associated with Russia's security apparatus. Natalya Meshcheryakova is the head of the investigative department in Shakhty, while his father is a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Even so, they had trouble getting any information.

10/ Natalya says, "I don’t think it’s necessary to be in [social media] groups where there is no truth. Neither the command nor the hotline has any information. Our people walked around all the hospitals with photographs and signs of our boy, but in vain.

11/ "I gave DNA samples in Sevastopol, which is also useless, but everything changed when I arrived in Rostov," where the main centre for processing DNA is located. She was informed on 6 January that her son's body had been found but was given no other details.

12/ The dead and 'missing' appear to be exclusively lower ranks and conscripts, who were presumably either incapacitated or engaged in firefighting at the time of the final explosion. The entire command staff is said to have survived without even receiving significant injuries.

13/ Four more missing men have been named: 24-year-old Alexander Kolotvinov, 19-year-old conscript Kirill Korf, 19-year-old Vlad Yaremenko, whose girlfriend is trying to find him with the aid of fortune tellers, and 23-year-old Dmitry Bryakin from the Saratov region.

14/ The secrecy around the fate of the Novocherkassk sailors is not unusual: it took months for the casualties of the cruiser Moskva to be declared dead. However, it has serious financial implications for their families, who get no compensation in the meantime. /end

Sources:
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🔹 t.me/vchkogpu/45237
t.me/vchkogpu/45555
t.me/astrapress/463…
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