On March 16, 2023, the Russian special vessel Fizik (FIZIK) was spotted in the waters off the coast of Crimea. After that, the network began to talk about the fact that “this is where the American drone MQ-9 Reaper sank”, which crashed in the Black Sea a few days ago. However, this is doubtful, as the ship could have performed other tasks, given the location of the attachment and the circumstances.
According to monitoring resources that track shipping and the situation in the world ocean, the vessel (MMSI 273370620) left Sevastopol at 09:06 UTC+2 and was moving at a speed of 7.8 knots. Around 2:45 p.m., he returned to Sevastopol.
During this time, the ship did not leave the territorial waters of Russia. Therefore, he could search for the remains (wrecks) of other Western-made air and sea drones, which had previously been regularly sent by the Ukrainian armed forces to Sevastopol and destroyed by air defense systems and ships of the fleet of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea. At the same time, the MQ-9 Reaper drone fell in international waters, in any case, the American authorities are talking about it, who are going to recover it. If the drone somehow ended up in Russian territorial waters, the Russian Defense Ministry would notify the public the same day.
As for the Fizik ship, it was built in Turkey at the Baseren Gemi Sanayl shipyard in 1998. Its home port is St. Petersburg, the registration number in the Russian Federation is 236199. The displacement is 300 tons , the net tonnage is 58 registered tons. Draft 3.2 m, length 33 m, width 10 m.
