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Putin Fields Criticism Over Handling of Sub Accident
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would return to Moscow later Friday, the Interfax news agency reported.
The announcement came amid rising dissatisfaction over his perceived inaction following the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea last weekend. All efforts have so far failed to rescue the 118 servicemen aboard.
Putin is attending an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Crimea, Ukraine.
He defended his decision not to cut short his vacation in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and go to the Barents Sea following the accident.
Boris Nemtsov, leader of the Union of Right Forces parliamentary group, said Putin's behavior was "amoral."
"As the supreme commander-in-chief he has no right to vacation while his subordinates, Northern Fleet sailors, face this drama," Nemtsov said in a statement.
"Nor is there a reasonable explanation why Putin did not agree to accept foreign help before Wednesday, when much valuable time had been wasted," Interfax quoted the statement as saying.
Putin said his first reaction upon hearing the news of the incident was to fly to the place where Kursk sank.
"But I stopped myself, and I think I did the right thing," Putin said.
"When non-specialists and high-ranking officials come to a disaster area, it does not help, but most often hampers (the work), " he said. "Everyone should be in his own place."
Putin also defended the performance of the military, saying they had acted right away.
"The fact that this information got to mass media late is a different thing," he said. "One can criticize it, but one can also understand that the sailors needed to sort things out themselves before official information was given."
Putin said that he spoke with Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and Navy Commander Vladimir Kuroyedov immediately after learning of the accident and was assured by them that Russia has "all the means for rescue work."
The main obstacle hampering rescue efforts has been the storm and bad weather, the president said. If foreign rescue craft had come to the accident site, it "would not have improved the weather, " Putin said.
Moscow later agreed to enlist help from Britain and Norway. Their experts and hardware are on the way, but will not reach the site until late Saturday or Sunday.
"As for the direct participation of our foreign colleagues in this work, I must once again say that Russia did not reject any proposals. As soon as they were made, our sailors contacted their colleagues and immediately began discussing the technical parameters of the craft for its possible participation," Putin said.
According to the official version of the cause of the accident, the submarine collided last Saturday with a heavy object, which left "a dreadful hole" on its front section. The sub then sank rapidly to the seabed and encountered another powerful explosion.
"Every sign shows that the command of the submarine was immediately disabled, making a negative impact on subsequent developments," Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said.
Video footage suggests that following the disaster, "water immediately filled the fore, destroying the command bridge, the brain of the submarine," the RTR television channel reported.
Up to 75 people may have died immediately, Interfax said, quoting an expert.
However, the Northern Fleet headquarters refused to predict the number of dead among the crew of the Kursk.
"Everyone on board the sub is alive for us until we know what happened there and we see what is inside it with our own eyes," said Igor Babenko, of the fleet's press service.
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