She did sink (in Russian) during towing due to serious hull breach and stormy conditions. This now opens a long procedure into the investigation of causes and the count, hopefully low, of losses. It remains to be seen what happened to the ship and it will take some time to learn the cause but two outcomes (and causes) are possible:
1. Internal sabotage. It is a working hypothesis for now.
2. Some form of external "impact" (I doubt these were Ukie missiles), if it has Western origin, ramifications will be extremely serious.
But it is too early to speculate. As with Kursk the media bacchanalia will continue. It will change absolutely nothing in the outcome of the SMO but if any Western power is involved, there will be retaliation. It is not the first time the Black Sea Fleet loses a capital ship, enough to recall the mystery with battleship Novorossiysk (ex-Giulio Cesare) which still hasn't been completely solved.
All I can say is that I knew her 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.
In the end, Sevastopol still remembers what happened when Otvazhnyi (Project 61 Large ASW ship) had her AD missiles stores detonating in 1974. Now recriminations (and acrimony) start and it will take some effort to squeeze facts from the thick jelly of media BS and conspiracy theory.
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