Russians to conclude on S. Korean warship sinking in 2-3 weeks: ambassador

The top Russian envoy in Seoul said Wednesday it will take two to three weeks for Russian investigators to reach a conclusion on what caused the sinking of a South Korean warship, currently blamed on the Democratic People' s Republic of Korea, local media reported.

Konstantin Vnukov, the Russian ambassador to South Korea, said in a speech that a team of Russian investigators who conducted a separate probe into the sinking are still analyzing data, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The Russian experts began their independent investigation on May 31 to reassess the findings of the multinational probe that blamed the DPRK's alleged torpedo attack for the sinking that killed 46 sailors.

"The Russian leadership finds it crucially important to establish the true cause of the sinking of the ship and to identify those responsible with full certainty," Yonhap quoted the ambassador as telling the Korean Council on Foreign Relations.

His remark comes as the two warring Koreas have begun their diplomatic drives at the United Nations Security Council to make their contradictory cases. Pyongyang has denied its role in the incident and claimed the investigation results were fabricated.

Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, has remained impartial on the sinking. "We are not an ally of North Korea (DPRK). It was during the Cold War period when we had special treaties," the diplomat reportedly said, calling the Moscow-Pyongyang relations "practical".

Source: Xinhua