US intelligence helped sink Russian flagship Moskva in Black Sea

Europe, News, US May 7, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The U.S. provided critical intelligence information on the Russian flagship Moskva that helped Ukrainians sink the warship, several American media outlets reported.

Russia’s guided-missile cruiser carrying 510 crew members was acting as the flagship in the Black Sea fleet and sank on April 14.

Two different accounts of events were quoted by Russian and Ukrainian officials respectively. According to the Ukrainian military sources, the ship was hit by Ukraine’s Neptune anti-ship missile, while Moscow claimed that the ship sank due to an internal fire and was never hit by any external missile. Moskva became Russia’s largest warship to sink during combat since World War II.

The Ukrainian military’s Operation Command South claimed that Moskva began to sink right after it was hit by the Ukrainian missile. According to the statement released by the Ukrainian military, “In the Black Sea operational zone, Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles hit the cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, it received significant damage. A fire broke out, other units of the ship’s group tried to help, but a storm and a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser and it began to sink.”

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The role of U.S. intelligence in sinking the ship was neither reported by the Ukrainian military sources, nor the U.S. in any previous accounts of the event. However, according to the information that the U.S. official recently provided to a media outlet, the U.S. identified the location of Moskva after the Ukrainian forces asked for help in locating the ship.

The ship was sailing in the South of the Black Sea near Odesa. The U.S. maritime intelligence shared the information with Ukrainian forces to prepare for a defense against a possible attack. According to the reports, the U.S. only played a role in identifying the ship. The U.S. forces did not know in advance that Ukraine would attack the ship and were not involved in the strike decision.

*^{Russian Missile cruiser Moskva. (Image Credit: Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS)}*

Originally built during the Soviet era as a lead ship of Project 1164, Moskva was first commissioned into the Russian navy in 1983 under the name of Slava (Glory). The name of the ship was later changed to Moskva in 1996 after the name of the Russian capital city, Moscow. The ship was 611 feet long and cruised at the speeds of 32 knots (37 mph).

The ship was equipped with P-500 Bazalt Vulkan anti-ship missiles. On the first day of the Russian invasion, Moskva was tasked to gain control of a small Ukrainian garrison on the Snake Island. Moskva’s name made it to the news headlines after a radio conversation between Ukrainian and Russian troops made rounds on the internet during the operation.

According to U.S. officials, the latest information about the U.S. involvement in sinking Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea could anger the Putin administration and lead to an unpredictable response.