RIGA, Latvia —... some families are reporting sailors dead or missing despite a Defense Ministry claim that the whole crew had been evacuated.
But several families are now contradicting this claim in Russian media reports and on social media. Social media groups uniting mothers of Russian soldiers deployed in Ukraine are filling up with photos and pleas from parents looking for their missing sons.
On Monday, at least four families shared pictures of sailors who the families say served on the sunken ship and have not been heard from since the incident.
"Please join our search for the Moskva sailors!" reads one message on a VKontakte message board. "Family members, please talk to your sons, perhaps someone saw the guys at the time of the evacuation, or you were near on the cruiser itself or you are currently with them in a hospital?"
One mother said her son, who survived, told her that about 40 people died and many were wounded and missing in the sinking. The newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe published the remarks of the
unnamed woman on Sunday, saying it had reviewed documents proving that the son served in the navy, though not specific proof that he had been aboard the Moskva when it sank.
In total, at least seven sailors have been identified by name and classified as missing, according to The Post's tally based on local media reports and accounts of family members. At least three others have been reported dead.
