The Moskva Riddle

Guest Post by Pepe Escobar

Moskva Sinking | Know Your Meme

Neither NATO nor Russia is telling us what really happened with the Moskva, the legendary admiral ship of the Black Sea fleet.

NATO because in theory, they know. Moscow, for its part, made it clear they are not saying anything until they can be sure what happened.

One thing is certain. If the Russian Ministry of Defense finds out that NATO did it, they will let loose all the dogs from Hell on NATO, as in “asymmetrical, lethal and fast”.

On Moskva’s location: it was positioned near one of 3 drilling rigs, used for monitoring a whole sector of the Black Sea with hydrophones and NEVA-BS radar, the most westward one, BK-2 Odessa, approximately 66 km northeast from Snake Island. The whole thing was integrated in the regional monitoring systems. As in everything, literally, was monitored: ships, low flying targets, smaller echoes, even the bobbing head of an unsuspecting swimmer.

So there was a quite slim chance that anything – not to mention subsonic Neptune missiles and Bayraktar drones – could have slipped through this aerial net.

So what could have possibly happened?

It could have been some kind of underwater drone, released either from some sneaky sub, or by a SBS team, coming from the western coast, with a stopover at Snake Island. Then that drone somehow managed to drill itself through the Moskva’s hull from below – and exploded its payload inside.

What follows comes from a top source in Brussels: serious, trustworthy, proven record spanning nearly two decades. Yet he may be just spreading disinformation. Or bragging. Or that may be rock solid intel.

Before we start, we should point out it’s hard to believe the Neptune/Bayraktar fairytale angle. After all, as we’ve seen, the Russian fleet had established a multidimensional surveillance/defense layer in the direction of Odessa.

The Moskva was near Odessa, closer to Romania. A year ago, the source maintains, a new phased array locator was installed on it: the illumination range is 500 km. According to the standard Ukrainian narrative, first the Moskva was hit by a drone, and the locators and antennas were smashed. The Moskva was half blind.

Then – according to the Ukrainian narrative – they launched two Neptune cruise missiles from the shore. Guidance was carried out by NATO’s Orion, which was hanging over Romania. The missiles zoomed in on the ship with the homing heads turned off, so that the radiation beam would not be detected.

So we have guidance by NATO’s Orion, transmitting the exact coordinates, leading to two hits, and subsequent detonation of ammunition (that’s the part acknowledged by the Russian Ministry of Defense).

A strategic hit

The Moskva was on combat duty 100-120 km away from Odessa – controlling the airspace within a radius of 250-300 km. So in fact it was ensuring the overlap of the southern half of Moldova, the space from Izmail to Odessa and part of Romania (including the port of Constanta).

Its positioning could not be more strategic. Moskva was interfering with NATO’s covert transfer of military aircraft (helicopters and fighter jets) from Romania to Ukraine. It was being watched 24/7. NATO air reconnaissance was totally on it.

As the Moskva “killer”, NATO may have not chosen the Neptune, as spread by Ukrainian propaganda; the source points to the fifth-generation NSM PKR (Naval Strike Missile, with a range of 185 km, developed by Norway and the Americans.)

He describes the NSM as “able to reach the target along a programmed route thanks to the GPS-adjusted INS, independently find the target by flying up to it at an altitude of 3-5 meters. When reaching the target, the NSM maneuvers and deploys electronic interference. A highly sensitive thermal imager is used as a homing system, which independently determines the most vulnerable places of the target ship.”

As a direct consequence of hitting the Moskva, NATO managed to reopen an air corridor for the transfer of aircraft to the airfields of Chernivtsi, Transcarpathian and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

In parallel, after the destruction of the Moskva, the Black Sea Fleet, according to the source, “no longer seems to have a ship equipped with a long-range anti-aircraft missile system”. Of course a three-band radar Sky-M system remains in play in Crimea, capable of tracking all air targets at a range of up to 600 km. One wonders whether this is enough for all Russian purposes.

So what do we really have here? Fantasy or reality? There was only one way to know.

I ran the info past the inestimable Andrei Martyanov, who knew the Moskva “as Slava in 1981 when she was afloat in the Northern Bay of Sevastopol and my class which was at first summer practice on board of old cruiser Dzerzhinsky was given an extensive introduction to her. So, she was an old lady and it is too bad that she had to finish her long life this way and at this time.”

Martyanov, once again, was the consummate professional, stressing no one, at this stage, really knows what happened. But he made some crucial points: “Per NSM (if we accept this version), even with its Low Observability and GPS guidance under normal (that is sea up to state 5-6) and normal radio-permeability, even the Moskva’s old frigate radar would have seen those missiles in distances of tens of kilometers, somewhere between 15-20 for sure. NSM, as any NATO anti-shipping missile, are subsonic, with their velocity roughly 300 meters per second. That leaves, even in a 15 kilometer range, 45 seconds to detect track and develop a firing solution for whatever ‘on duty’ AD complex. More than enough reaction time.”

Martyanov also stresses, “it is impossible to hide the external impact of the anti-shipping missile – one will immediately know what hit the ship. Moreover, to hit and sink such a target as the Moskva one has to launch a salvo and not only two missiles, likely 3-4 at least. In this case, Russia would know who attacked Moskva. Does NATO know? I am positive this event has NATO written all over it, if it is not an internal sabotage which absolutely cannot be excluded at this stage. I am sure if Nebo was operational it would have seen the salvo.”

Which brings us to the inevitable clincher: “If NATO was involved, I am sure we will see some retaliation, after all, as I am on record all the time, US bases in Middle East and elsewhere are nothing more than fat prestigious targets.”

So get ready: something lethally “asymmetrical” may be about to pop up.

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Anonymous
Anonymous

The only thing that can pop up is another miserable event, adding to our already long list of miserable events. Great powers slap each other, while we are the ones that feel the impact.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

It takes a while for World Wars to get up and running.

frostyballs
frostyballs

Here is what is missed in this article.
https://www.airlineratings.com/news/revolutionary-mh370-tracking-technology-detects-missile-attack-moskva/

Science much?

So good of a story….it was censored

Thaisleeze
Thaisleeze

Is that a John Deere tractor towing the battleship?

Freeland_Dave
Freeland_Dave

Thanks for pointing it out. I wasn’t paying attention either and missed it. On closer inspection it’s clear the entire photo has been photoshoped and is fake.

Phillis Stein
Phillis Stein

I think that may have even topped the propaganda shot where they actually inserted a scene from Star Wars, and upon close inspection you could see some storm troopers!

Red River D
Red River D

Escobar doesn’t even mention that Martyanov suggested the idea of sabotage?

Target the ammo magazines from within the ship. Down she goes. Just like the wily cook from Hunt for Red October — one of the other folks Alec Baldwin shot and killed over the years!!!

Stucky

The Russian leadership is being exceedingly cautious in investigating the situation. Why?

What are the chances that at this point they DON’T know exactly what happened? Imho …. ZERO.

If America was involved (how could they not be?) then only two questions remain; payback is a real bitch, so how serious will that payback be?, and 2) when?

Aunt Acid
Aunt Acid

When? It’s a dish best served cold.

Phillis Stein
Phillis Stein

Didn’t anyone tell these jokers NOT to poke the bear? Perhaps they realise the jig is up and simply want us all to go down with them?

m
m

The possibility of EW blinding Russian radar, maybe without them even noticing, is not mentioned.

Known Associate
Known Associate

Nor is the possibility that the entire world has forgotten similar incidents (explosion caused by unknown) such as the chemical plant in China (3-4yrs ago), the destruction of Beirut by the fertilizer explosion (less than 2 yrs ago), etc.

At the time of the Chinese incident, it was noted that this could have been an opportune test of the orbital weapon known as “RODS FROM GOD”. This is essentially a pile of rocks in LEO with a flinger and some very accurate targeting systems. A kinetic weapon rather than explosive.

The rocks are actually tungsten rods of considerable mass launched by some means (if alloyed with iron, then a magnetic launcher) and a simple ballistic de-orbiting path to the target. They are hyper-sonic once within the atmosphere and very hard to detect or track due to small size.

Invented decades ago and certainly operationalized by now with the X-37B as the supply vehicle and perhaps also the launch platform. If also the launch platform, then no nasty evidence left in orbit after use.

Ron Fierrosky
Ron Fierrosky

Another big -alleged- bargaining chip is the group trapped under the Azov plant. Unless one applies the Hillary option. The Russians could just cement all access points, and airshafts to the underground facility, and let the occupants Hillaryize themselves?

mark
mark

comment image

Aunt Acid
Aunt Acid

Ivan could call rotor ruuter after flooding the joint.

Phillis Stein
Phillis Stein

Perhaps with a side of piranha?

Anonymous
Anonymous

Flooding would be my go to. Rats would escape first then come the big rats, cold wet and Targeted

Steven
Steven

There is more. Than one solution. 1. Drifting sea mines.
There are a lot of sea mines drifting in the Black Sea, the Russians denying they laid the mines, as have the Ukrainians, and Russia saying NATO wants and excuse to use minesweepers, since I think a mine has drifted into the Bosporus and was deactivated.
They could be contact or magnetic mines, although I would think the Russians have used an antimagnetic system on the Moskva, but that’s speculation.
The whole Russian operation has been characterized by arrogant overconfidence.
Another consideration, intervention of Divine Providence.
The Russians had a religious relic on board, a fragment of the True Cross from the crucifixion of Christ in the chapel on board the Moskva, an act of sacrilege against the Prince of Peace.
Providence has intervened in the acts of men in war before, Washington’s escape to New York across the East River during a dense fog during the Revolutionary War, the Day of Prayer when the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk, the clearing of the skies so the aircraft could attack the Nazi tanks during the Battle of the Bulge.
Perhaps an act of Divine Providence blinded the defenses of the Moskva, resulting in her sinking.
The whole idea of Putin wrapping himself in the blessings of the Church while setting out on a horrendous attack, murdering thousands of Russians and attacking civilians and whole cities of Ukrainians, bringing on death and maiming to thousand and millions fleeing for their lives is beyond arrogance.

Anonymous
Anonymous

And what divine appointed Nations send even more weapons to kill while sleeping snug as a bug at home, safe and assured of a profit of War.
President JFK did not allow missiles in Cuba but that cognitive dissonance you feel when Russia says Enough does show your absence of any brain power

Phillis Stein
Phillis Stein

So, no mention of the fact that Ukraine has been shelling the heck out of essentially its own people (of the East) for the last 8 years, killing thousands of mostly civilians? This is not murder; this is war. Putin was not the aggressor. But, let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story!

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