The father of a Russian conscript believed to have been killed in the Moskva battleship’s sinking said he has been questioned by security services on suspicion of sending a bomb threat.
Dmitry Shkrebets is the father of 20-year-old conscript Yegor Shkrebets, who was declared missing after the Moskva guided missile cruiser sank in the Black Sea on April 13 after reportedly being struck by a Ukrainian missile.
Officers from an unidentified security agency came to Dmitry Shkrebets’ apartment and questioned him, he wrote on his VKontakte page Thursday, saying “messages were sent on his behalf via email (foreign) with bomb threats to some organizations.”
He denied the allegations, calling them “absurd.”
“Someone wanted to turn me into a terrorist ‘thug’,” Shkrebets wrote.
The officers also confiscated his laptop for forensic examination, he said.
“Now, in addition to waiting for news from the military prosecutor's office at the Black Sea Fleet about a change in my son's status, I will wait for the result of the examination of my laptop,” Shkrebets said.
Shkrebets was one of the first and most vocal parents of the Moskva crew to search for answers about their sons’ fate after the warship sank.
He criticized the military authorities’ actions, calling for punishments against “all those responsible” for letting conscripts take part in the war with Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin previously denied the participation of conscripts in Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine only to admit their presence on the battlefield a day later.
The Moskva was an elite ship in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet capable of carrying nuclear missiles. It required a crew of about 510 sailors.
Yegor’s mother, Irina, has said she saw only 200 sailors in the hospital where the wounded Moskva crew were being treated.
Shkrebets didn’t respond to follow-up questions from the It’s My Media news outlet, but nor did he deny what was written in his public social media post.
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