Relatives of Senior Warrant Officer Dmitry Cheremiskin, who had served on the sunken flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet cruiser Moskva, received the certificate of his death on 11 August, his wife Nadezhda Merzlyakova told the Telegram channel Mozhem Obyasnit (We can explain).
His relatives reported him missing in May: “Our family was struck by war in this terrifying way. It came in all at once, stopped us dead in our tracks, now it’s impossible to get up, speak, look up… Mom still believes that Dima will come home, stand on the doorstep, and say: ‘Hi, mom… I’m back… I’m alive…’.”
Photo: Nadezhda Kalinina / Vkontakte
Cheremiskin is the fifth confirmed death out of the soldiers that served on the cruiser. Earlier, the death certificates were received by relatives of three conscripts — Leonid Savin, Ivan Frantin, and Egor Shkrebts.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry’s public statements, following the sinking of the Moskva cruiser one crew member was killed, while 27 went missing. On 22 April, Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev named the sailor that had been confirmed to be dead by the Russian authorities. It was Senior Warrant Officer Ivan Vakhrushev.
On April 13, Ukraine said that two Neptune missiles had hit the Moskva cruiser. On April 14, Russia confirmed that there had been an explosion on board. At first, they said the warship was damaged “as a result of detonated ammunition”, the sailors were evacuated, while the frigate “retained buoyancy”. Later, the ministry said that the Moskva cruiser had sunk while being towed towards Sevastopol during a storm.
