An investigation into the father of a sailor killed aboard the sunken warship Moskva has been opened in Russia. He had previously criticized the Kremlin online and called for penalties for anyone responsible for allowing conscripts to take part in the war in Ukraine.
More than seven weeks have passed since the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, the fleet’s flagship, sank in the Black Sea and dozens of people have disappeared. They have been listed as missing by the Russian government. The Kremlin has refused to publicly admit that scores of people lost their lives in the attack. According to the official statement, the ship sank due to a fire in bad weather.
Dmitry Shkrebets, the father of a killed sailor, was one of the first to investigate his child’s fate and publicly criticize the Kremlin’s lies. That’s why the authorities have now opened an investigation against him. His son Yegor was 20 years old and a conscript on board the Moskva when it sank in the Black Sea on April 14.
Shkrebets wrote on the Russian social media platform VK that the police came to his apartment and questioned him about alleged bomb threats that he is said to have sent. The police also confiscated his computer, Shkrebets told “Bild”. “Everyone knows, however, that there is probably more to it than just an investigation into an alleged bomb threat,” he says.
Shkrebets criticized the actions of the military authorities online after the sinking of the Moskva and called for penalties for “all those responsible” for allowing conscripts to take part in the war in Ukraine. Russian President Putin had always maintained that only professional soldiers were on board the “Moskva” and no conscripts.
He writes openly about what he thinks of his country’s government – even though he was a supporter of Russian President Putin before his son’s death. “The worst thing that could happen to a father happened to me. I lost my son,” says Shkrebets. “That’s why I’m not afraid of anyone. I write the truth and will continue to do so.”
