Russia’s Investigative Committee reportedly suspends investigation into sinking of Russian missile cruiser Moskva

Dmitry Shkrebets, the father of Yegor Shkrebets, one of the Russian sailors who died in the sinking of the missile cruiser Moskva, wrote that the Russian Investigative Committee has suspended its criminal case connected to the incident. The warship Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was sunk by Ukrainian missiles in April 2022.

Shkrebets posted a notification he received from the Investigative Committee’s Main Military Investigative Directorate stating that the investigation was suspended on December 20, 2023. (Shkrebets wrote he only received the letter in February.)

The reason, according to the document, was that “the suspect or the accused has fled from the investigation or their whereabouts have not been established for other reasons” (Article 208 of Russia’s Criminal Code).

Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer from the human rights project Department One, told the independent publication Agenstvo that when a case is suspended on these grounds, it means that all possible investigative measures have been completed, but it is impossible to identify or detain the suspects.