Divers' speed embarrasses Russian Navy

MOSCOW - Russian officials looked furtive and embarrassed yesterday at the speed - just over 24 hours from start to finish - with which a dozen divers from a Norwegian firm proved that all the submariners on the Kursk died with their doomed vessel.

Within a hour of the first divers descending to the wreck, they had ripped off the outer cover of the escape catch, something that four Russian rescue submarines had tried and failed to do for almost a week.

There were almost farcical scenes in the rescue vessels moored above the Kursk as the Russians gloomily emphasised the difficulties facing the divers while the Norwegians briskly insisted that they were easily soluble.

The Russian motive was clear. If the Norwegians made it all look too easy then this would fuel criticism of the Russian Navy for not calling them in earlier.

President Vladimir Putin, who has been ferociously attacked by the Russian media for staying on holiday until the end of last week, flew to the Northern Fleet base of Severomorsk overnight to pay tribute to the 118 dead submariners.

Sorrow, anger and shock gripped Russia yesterday and Putin ordered a day of mourning.

"God, may their souls rest in peace," said a banner headline in the Vremya MN newspaper. A smaller one read: "The reputation of the Russian leadership is lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea."

Around 500 relatives of the sailors, massed at the naval base of Vedyayevo where the nuclear submarine Kursk started its last mission, waited to be taken to the site of the disaster.

"We lost the best submarine crew in the Northern Fleet," the fleet's commander, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov said, his voice shaking with emotion, hours after Norwegian divers found the vessel was flooded.

"Forgive the children. Forgive your sons. And forgive me for not bringing back your boys," he said in a televised address from the deck of a cruiser in the Barents Sea.

But the Russian press - aware that officials spurned foreign help for days while Russia's rescue efforts failed - was not in a forgiving mood.

The media lashed out at Putin, who wants to revive Russia as superpower despite a clear lack of means.

Nine days after the Kursk sank, it was the Norwegian-led team that finally opened the hatch after a day's work. The British LR5 state-of-the-art mini-sub headed home untested.

"What if they had not lied to us?" asked the daily Izvestia. "What if they had not waited five days to invite the foreigners?

"What if we had our own equipment? Now it is too late. Those who carried out dive after dive, day and night in the icy waters with the equipment they had, they did all they could. Those who pretended to be a superpower, they will not be excused."

This is a double blow for Putin. He was elected as the man who would restore strength to the Russian state.
The Kursk sank when it was on naval manoeuvres prior to a Russian fleet sailing to the Mediterranean to show the flag.

Instead the whole operation has turned into a symbol of Russian military weakness and incompetence.

Russia has asked for Norwegian help in bringing the sailors' bodies to the surface. Norway said it was considering the request and has offered to send a camera into the crippled vessel for details that might help recovery efforts.

Meanwhile, a New York-based organisation has launched an appeal for the Kursk families, so far raising more than $US60,000 ($135,000).

The Veterans of Modern Wars - Together, is headed by Yuri Tarasov, a 28-year-old United States Army veteran, who has reached out to New York's sizable Russian immigrant population.

"A lot of people want to help," he said. "We hope to give $US1000-2000 dollars to each family."

Tarasov said the 500,000 roubles set aside by the Russian Government for the families of the sailors would amount to only $US152 per family.

- AGENCIES

Herald Online feature: Russian sub in distress

Russian Centre for Arms Control: OSKAR subs

World Navies Today: Russian subs

Russian Navy official website