https://www.rawstory.com/russia-moskva-flagship/
On CNN Friday, Andrey Illarionov, the former chief economic adviser to Vladimir Putin, explained why the sinking of the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva is a huge blow to Putin, and to Russia as a whole.
"I do want to ask you, Andrey, as someone with insight into Vladimir Putin's personality a bit, this warship that sunk in the Black Sea, how embarrassed do you think he is by that, if at all?" asked anchor Brianna Keilar.
"I think from the purely military point of view, it is, even from the purely military point of view it is very important, because it is a flagship of the Black Sea Fleet," said Illarionov. "It is incomparably more important from the point of view of symbolic significance because it is number one ship in the Black Sea Fleet, it is the largest one, it is a ship that has been used by Putin personally all the time when he visited Sevastopol and Black Sea Fleet and participated in all these Navy parades. It was the same ship that sank several Georgian boats during the Russian/Georgian war back in 2008. It was the same ship that attacked Snake Island in the beginning of this particular war. And the reaction of the Ukrainian soldiers to this attack became viral in social media and around the world."
"It is also interesting that that particular ship has been built in Mykolaiv, in Ukraine, in the largest shipbuilding plant in the former Soviet Union," added Illarionov. "It is interesting it has been hit by missile from same area, from Mykolaiv. It is a lot of symbolism in this case. And certainly it has name Moskva, the capital of Russia, so this is a very, very painful blow to the morale, and the status of the Russian Navy and the Russian Army."
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