A Russian navy officer is under investigation for conspiring to steal two bronze propellers from his own ship, according to Russian state media.
"An officer, as part of an organized group, together with other military personnel and civilians, stole two bronze propellers with a total weight of 26 tons from the ship," said Sergei Sharshavykh, chief of the Baltic Fleet's military investigation department, according to Maritime Executive citing Interfax.
Sharshavykh identified the suspect as the commanding officer of the warship Bespokoynyy, a Sovremenny-class Soviet destroyer commissioned in 1991.
Read alsoRadio equipment stolen from Russia's "Doomsday Plane"Bespokoynyy had been drydocked at the Yantar Baltic Shipyard in 2016 for permanent conversion into a museum ship. During the docking, her screws and propeller shafts were removed and her hull was sealed in order to ensure that she stays afloat at her permanent mooring. Since 2018, she has been berthed at the Baltic Fleet's Kronstadt naval base outside St. Petersburg.
The CO and his co-conspirators, investigators believe, stole the ship's bronze screws and replaced them with similar ones made out of a cheaper material. The total damage is estimated at nearly $530,000.
