In Sevastopol, on the territory of the military unit of the Russian Navy, a monument to the crew of the Vasily Bekh tugboat was unveiled, while the Russian Defense Ministry did not report the loss of the vessel. A photo of the monument was published by Dmitry Shkrebets, the father of one of the dead sailors of the cruiser Moskva, the Agency drew attention to this.
At the same time, the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the impact on the tugboat back in 2022, when the ship was delivering weapons, ammunition and sailors to Snake Island. The operational command "South" claimed that 70% of the crew were hit as a result of the strike, the fate of the rest is unknown. Strana.UA, citing open sources, reported that the ship's crew consisted of 26 people.
According to Shkrebets, the monument is located on the territory of the military unit of the emergency rescue team of the Black Sea Fleet. He claims that only the press service of the Navy was allowed to take photos at the opening ceremony, and the phones were confiscated from the guests. He published a photo taken before the opening of the monument.
The surviving crew members and relatives of the victims waited almost nine months for the authorities to admit that Vasily Bekh was involved in a "special operation." According to the interlocutor of the Agency, one of the surviving crew members said that he had not yet received payments from the state.
Shkrebets claims that there were 9 civilian crew members and 14 military on board the tug, of which seven civilians and four military were killed.
In April 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit the cruiser Moskva with Neptune missiles. Officially, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the crew was completely evacuated. However, relatives of the sailors reported that many crew members were missing or killed. The father of the deceased sailor, Dmitry Shkrebets, also criticized the MoD for not providing data. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation recognized the death of one person and declared 27 sailors missing. They were later declared dead.