5:59 v originále: Lies, anger and jubilation. The end of warship Moskva

Sinking of Russia's flagship Black Sea missile cruiser, the Moskva, is still surrounded by questions. According to the Russian government the warship was damaged by fire and later capsized. Ukraine claims that it struck the cruiser with its missiles.

What had really happened? And how much does the Russian public trust its government's explanation of the events?

„While the 43-year old warship had not seen much action in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, its loss was seen by many on the Ukrainian side as a kind of comeuppance for the Russian attack. You mess with Ukraine, this is what happens,“ says Andrew Roth, Russia correspondent for the Guardian newspaper.

Moscow has not confirmed that the ship came under missile attack from the Ukrainian side, but as Andrew Roth explains in the course of the interview, there are reasons to believe this was likely the case. Moscow is even more tight-lipped when it comes to the fate of the servicemen from the sunken ship.

„The truth is, we don't know how many sailors were onboard the ship. And that's the sort of baseline, it's indicative of how secretive the Russian government has been about everything pertaining to this ship, this accident and to the number of casualties,“ says Andrew Roth. As he adds, the alleged presence of an unknown number of conscripts manning the ship in the zone of conflict is a sensitive issue for official Moscow.

„It does create a picture that there were a lot of young boys on this ship who shouldn't have been in a combat situation. And that adds another level of outrage, I think, in the story for ordinary Russians, even those who might not be opposed to the invasion of Ukraine.“

Listen to the whole interview via the audioplayer which you can find at the beginning of the article. (Český překlad rozhovoru najdete v článku Křižník Moskva jako pomník ruské invaze. Mlčení, mlžení, hněv i apatie.)