Images and videos began to spread on social media almost immediately.
When last week’s report first came out Explosion in MoscowRussia’s flagship in the Black Sea, immediately followed by posts and aftermath claiming to be a genocide.
The ship was both A symbol of Russia’s strength and an important gear in military operations.. Unidentified circumstances surrounding its sinking and explosion-Ukraine said it attacked the ship with missiles, and Russia said ammunition damaged the ship and sank into a stormy sea-may soon show what actually happened. It led to a desire for something that could not be done.
Most of the claims were quickly made clear by professional news organizations and amateur analysts, often referred to as the open source intelligence community (OSINT for short). In some cases, the ship did not match the Moscow profile. Others quickly turned out to be old videos.
However, some of the recent photos are different. Images and short videos appeared to show dark black smoke swirling from a warship very similar to Moscow.
The photo was new. The ship was clearly a Slava-class cruiser, of which Moscow was one of three. Using archived photos, the NBC News Social Newsgathering team matched the shape and infrastructure of the ship, including dome-shaped fire control radar, helicopter hangars, heliports, and distinctive dark gray paint.
Some protracted questions remain. NBC News could not determine who first took the video or image and why they are currently being shared. The Pentagon also states that the image cannot be verified.
However, an expert who spoke with NBC News said he believed the photo showed Moscow, assuming they were not doctors. There were no signs of change in the pictures.
Retired US Navy Admiral James Stabridis said they were likely to have shown a Russian ship.
“In today’s world, you can create almost any deepfake, so you don’t bet your life on valuation,” he said.
“I think this is actually Moskva. It certainly looks like a Slava-class cruiser. They are completely distinctive with the missile tube in front. Others I know or can find. Slava or similar ships are not in pain. Occam’s sword says this is probably the Slava-class cruiser Moskva. “
Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher at Rand Corporation and a former U.S. Navy surface squadron commander, said all available evidence shows Moscow as a photographic ship.
“No other ship of this type has been damaged, and the damage is consistent with the report,” he said in an email.
Lieutenant Patrick Krakowski, a military professor at the Russian Maritime Institute at Naval War College, made a similar assessment.
“I don’t know if something is a doctor, but it’s a Slava class,” he said. “They only have three, and we know that [the other two] I’m alive and fine. “
The NBC News Social Newsgathering team also shows that one of the images in circulation online shows that the ship is significantly tilted to port, and a rescue tugboat is blowing two streams into the air behind Moscow. Pointed out that it may look faint.
A low-quality 3-second video also showed a similar scene of a warship firing as a tugboat approached the ship.
The recording suddenly ended when the man shouted “What are you doing?” In Russian.