Diving platform arrives at site of sunken Kursk

MOSCOW, Russia -- The Regalia arrived early Friday morning at the spot where the Russian nuclear submarine sank after two unexplained explosions last August.

Navy chief Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, said on Thursday the rescue plan could be cancelled if an initial analysis of the submarine's condition showed it to be too dangerous to enter.

The statement is the strongest indication from military chiefs that a joint Russian-Norwegian team on its way to the site may not fulfil President Vladimir Putin's pledge return the bodies of the 118 victims to their families.

Manilov said most of the victims' families did not want the bodies raised, echoing an open letter they sent to Putin last month saying they did not want more men to risk their lives rushing the operation.

Interfax news agency on Thursday quoted former Northern Fleet commander Admiral Eduard Baltin as saying the bodies should remain on the bottom of the Barents Sea.

"The operation ... is pointless, and from a moral and psychological point of view it is absolutely unacceptable and even blasphemous," Baltin was quoted as saying.

A navy commander has said that Russia is ready to cancel plans to recover the bodies from the Kursk nuclear submarine rather than risk the lives of the rescue team.

"If the analysis of the situation inside the submarine shows the presence of too much danger and too high a risk for the divers, I, as chief commander of the navy, will be forced to give the order to cancel the operation," Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov said in a statement on Thursday.

The 154-metre Kursk was sunk by two major explosions in August. Russian, British and Norwegian rescue efforts failed to find any survivors.

Experts have said divers face grave danger trying to enter the vessel -- from the intense cold and darkness more than 100 metres down and the jagged metal debris floating in the wreck.

Such warnings have prompted speculation that the Russian-Norwegian mission's main aim is to recover secret equipment from the Kursk, a charge denied by Kuroyedov.

Interfax on Thursday quoted him as saying the equipment may be removed after the Kursk is lifted to the surface which Russia has said it plans to do next year if it can secure foreign backing.

Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov has said the dive will go ahead but added that bad weather had forced the start of the operation back to Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

But the Norwegian arm of U.S. oil firm Halliburton, which is providing logistical support on the project, has said it could start work soon after their platform arrived at the site, probably overnight on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the wife of the submarine's captain has resigned from a commission to help the victim's relatives, saying it had wasted money and ignored the wishes of the victims' families.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Divers heading for Kursk site
October 17, 2000
Russia funds mission to retrieve Kursk crew
October 5, 2000
Raising the Kursk could be done, say experts
August 21, 2000

Russian Government
Russian Ministry of Defence (in Russian)
Halliburton Company

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