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businessinsider |  The Russian warship that was confirmed as sunk on Thursday may have been carrying a holy relic when it went down.

The Moskva, a missile cruiser that was the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, sank on Thursday following an explosion onboard, Russian state media reported.

Claim that after the sinking of Flagship Moskva, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Igor Osipov, was violently arrested.
Needs to be confirmed. https://t.co/thVNdhRBdd

— Anders Åslund (@anders_aslund) April 14, 2022

A news report from 2020 has given rise to the question of whether the vessel sank with a Christian relic —  a piece of the "true cross" — onboard.

The Russian Orthodox Church announced in February 2020 that the relic had been delivered to the then-commander of the Black Sea fleet, Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, and was at the fleet's headquarters, ready to deliver it to the ship "shortly," the state-run Tass news agency reported at the time. 

The relic in question is a fragment of wood just millimeters large that, according to believers, is a piece of the cross on which Christ was crucified, Tass said. That fragment is embedded in a 19th-century metal cross which is itself kept in a reliquary, according to the outlet. 

The Moskva had a chapel onboard where sailors could pray, Sergiy Khalyuta, archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church's Sevastopol District, told Tass. He said the fragment was to be transferred at the request of its owner, an anonymous collector.

Insider was unable to establish when the relic was finally transferred to the Moskva or if it was onboard at the time of the vessel's sinking. The Russian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sinking of the Moskva, a prized flagship, is a major blow to Russian morale, Western officials said.