IF the US or UK is responsible then we can expect retaliation. Putin is taking the heat at home and that is insult to injury.
It may have been an accident, but the results will not go on unanswered. This sub was new and on it way to a most important assignment in the Mediterranean as part of Russias entre into the
"peace process".
This will likely help a put the "hook in the jaw" of the Russians
for retaliation and revenge.
_________________________________________________________________
Scenarios of Russian sub disaster's origin
multiply
Friday, 18 August 2000 18:49 (ET)
Scenarios of Russian sub disaster's origin multiply
MOSCOW, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The Russian navy commander charged with
overseeing the rescue of the crew of the sunken submarine Kursk confirmed on
Friday what Western naval experts have been saying for days -- that Russia's
newest, most modern sub sank after an explosion.
But the main question about the mysterious sinking of the "unsinkable"
Kursk is this: What could have caused an explosion capable of ripping
through the vessel's thick titanium skin and sinking it in less than two
minutes.
Adm. Vyacheslav Popov, the commander of the navy's Northern Fleet, to
which the Kursk belongs, insists the accident was caused by "an explosion
inside one of the compartments, but the reason for the explosion could be
external, a collision."
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who is heading the government
commission investigating last Saturday's accident, said he had concluded
that the sub had collided with an unknown object of considerable weight,
suggesting a collision with a ship. However, naval sources continued to
suggest a collision with a foreign submarine that may have been shadowing
the Kursk during its military exercises in the Barents Sea.
Representatives of Western navies have denied any of their submarines are
in trouble, and the United States has said its submarines were not in the
immediate area of the accident.
"I can only assure you and the American people that there were no American
ships involved in this matter," U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen told
reporters Friday at the Pentagon.
But Russia has insisted that the Kursk hit something at a depth of 60
feet, forcing it to plunge to the seabed, which it hit with a thud that
caused further damage to the already-wrecked sub.
Initial suggestions that a huge commercial vessel with a reinforced hull
that would have given it ice-breaking capabilities had slammed head-on into
the Kursk while the sub was crossing a busy commercial shipping lane have
been shelved, as no ships were in the immediate area at the time of the
accident.
The Russian newspaper Sevodnya published a report Friday claiming evidence
showed that a U.S. sub may have collided with the Kursk.
The report said Russian ships had detected the presence of another sub
that was also lying at the bottom of the Barents Sea, and that a U.S. sub
had applied to Norway for an emergency port call, limping in the direction
of the Norwegian coast at a speed that would have suggested a serious
breakdown.
There were no other Russian subs in the immediate area at the time of the
accident, Sevodnya reported.
The Pentagon has said two of its subs were near the area, but dismissed
reports that a U.S. submarine could have been involved in a collision.
Some media outlets have latched on to the theory of a lurking U.S.
submarine accidentally colliding with the Kursk as two vessels moved toward
each soundlessly, either unaware of each other or, more likely, misjudging
the distance they were at.
Speculation has focused on Russia's stubborn refusal to accept offers of
U.S. aid in the rescue operation, while reluctantly accepting British and
Norwegian offers of help, and rumors have flown as regards the details of
President Clinton's long telephone conversation with President Vladimir
Putin.
The arrival in Moscow of CIA Director George Tenet on Friday also set
tongues wagging, but intelligence sources said the trip had been planned
before the Kursk sank and that Tenet's mission was intended to discuss with
his Russian counterpart a range of issues, including the threat posed by
international terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking and weapons
proliferation.
Scientists at a seismological institute in Norway said Friday that they
had registered two powerful blasts in the Barents Sea that took place last
Saturday within two minutes of each other. The Norwegian scientists said
they determined that their seismic readings were from explosions aboard the
Kursk. Russian experts said any onboard blast would have been caused by a
collision, and could have triggered a far larger explosion of ammunition
stored in the torpedo bay.
The Norwegians said the first explosion was equivalent to about 220 pounds
of TNT, while the second was huge, like an explosion of almost 2 tons of
TNT, triggering a seismic shock registered at 3.5 on the Richter scale,
similar so a small earthquake.
A seismological station in Finland also registered explosions last
Saturday, while NATO officials said that there had been no registered sound
of a collision.
Russian Adm. Eduard Baltin said Friday that he would like to see the
reading of explosions recorded by the Norwegian equipment. He said the
findings do not match those made by the Russian navy.
Russian journalists who cover the military said the navy could not exclude
any course of events when a head-on collision -- as naval commanders claim
has happened, judging by video footage of damage to the bow of the Kursk --
is followed by a massive explosion inside the hull.
The speed with which the accident happened was such that the Kursk was
unable to activate its radio beacon to send a distress signal.
Russian naval experts and the submarine's designers were stunned by the
extent of the damage to the Kursk, videotaped by a member of the rescue
team.
On Thursday night, Klebanov admitted that several compartments of the sub
had been flooded instantly as the Kursk began to sink, and indicated for the
first time that loss of life could be significant, adding that at least some
of the crew would have had about a minute to lock themselves in other
compartments near the nuclear reactors.
--
Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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