Son of sailor who perished in Kursk submarine disaster killed in Ukraine

Danis Ishmuratov, 25, the son of Fanis Ishmuratov, an ensign who perished in the Kursk submarine disaster back in 2000, was killed in the war in Ukraine, the press service of the Baymak district of Russia’s Bashkortostan told Kommersant newspaper.

The circumstances of his death are not known. Danis Ishmuratov was in Ukraine as a contract serviceman. He had served at the 201st Russian military base in Tajikistan since 2021. Ishmuratov will be buried in his home village of Meryasovo.

Last year, Ishmuratov gave an interview for a special project by Kommersant. In it, the young man talked about how his family got through the death of his father, 26-year-old Fanis Ishmuratov, who served on the Kursk submarine as a turbine unit technician. Danis admitted that he did not remember his father, as Fanis was killed when he was only three years old.

“The first childhood memory I have is the funeral of my father. I still remember the red casket and a red-tinted glass square on top of it. I remember a GAZ-53 [truck] that transported the casket and the military officers who carried it. They retrieved my father’s body from the ninth compartment, a year after Kursk had sunk. The funeral was held in Bashkortostan, in the village of Meryasovo, where my father was born.”

Danis wanted to “catch up with his father” when it comes to his military rank and get the rank of officer. At the time of the interview, Ishmuratov Jr. was a private.

“My dream is to get the rank of officer, to raise many children, at least seven. I want to be a father of many children. I want a house with a sauna, I want kids, I want to make my Mum happy to have grandkids,” he said.

The Kursk submarine sunk on 12 August 2000 in the Barents Sea, 175 kilometres from Severomorsk, at a depth of 354 feet. All 118 sailors who were on board were killed in the disaster. According to the official version of events, the tragedy took place as a result of a torpedo explosion on board and the subsequent detonation of the submarine’s munitions.

On the day the submarine sank (it was day 97 of Putin’s first presidency), Russian President Vladimir Putin was on vacation in Sochi. He was informed of the disaster only on the next day. Meanwhile, the public found out about the sinking on 14 August.

Putin ended his vacation and left Sochi five days later, which caused a wave of criticism in the media. After a meeting with Bill Clinton, Putin gave an interview to CNN host Larry King. When asked about what happened to Kursk, Putin replied with a smile on his face: “It drowned.” The Russian government officially announced that the Kursk sailors had been killed only on 22 August.