The Moskva: Three Theories on Who Sank Russia's Flagship

The Moskva Sinks, and the Three Versions Don't Add Up

The video of the explosion circulating from the Moskva sinking shows an explosion and little else: no missile trail, no identifiable impact. This void mirrors the entire episode. The cruiser, flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet with four decades of service, went to the bottom, and since then, each actor tells a different story. Russia spoke of a fire. Ukraine, of Neptune missiles. Another line points to divers with explosives, which one forum user attributes to Delgado. None fully fits with the previous ones.

One Less Flagship, Three Incompatible Narratives

The initial Russian version was a fire on board; later, some recall the Moskva sank while being towed. This is the least uncomfortable account: an accident, not an attack. The Ukrainian narrative claims the blow was dealt by domestically developed Neptune missiles. And a third, defended in one of the thread's most elaborate contributions, speaks of sabotage with explosives placed by divers. The video confirms little, leading to the confusion.

Fire, Missile, or Divers? The Technical Dilemma

Here physics, not flags, comes into play. An anti-ship missile flies relatively slowly, carries little explosive, and doesn't use satellite guidance: as it approaches, it uses its own radar to lock onto the target. And the Moskva was no second-rate ship; it specialized in anti-aircraft and anti-ship defense. For such a vessel to succumb forces discussion of decoys and jamming. Some deem it impossible; others recall that even powerful systems can fail.

NATO as the Explanation for Everything

Much of the analysis doesn't debate the missile itself, but who launched it. One current of thought holds that allied intervention is already a fact, albeit covert and gradual, and that the sinking is not unrelated. Conversely, the thesis is that the more NATO gets involved, the more Russia will escalate, and Ukraine will pay the price. The analogy circulating is boxing: the first blows gauge distance, and no one goes all out when the opponent has nuclear weapons.

The Largest Ship Sunk by Missile in History

Regardless of authorship, one of the claims circulating in the thread is that the Moskva would go down in history as the largest ship sunk by a missile, a blow comparable to that suffered by the HMS Sheffield in the Falklands. Junk, some say, four decades of hull. But this clashes with what the Russian establishment itself admitted. Konstantin Sivkov, vice-president of the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences, called it a very serious loss. It's difficult to simultaneously argue that the ship was superfluous and that its absence leaves a void.