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Russia to Retrieve Sub Crew Bodies in Late September
Russia will start to retrieve the bodies of the crewmen of the nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank in the Barents Sea during a military exercise on August 12, at the end of September, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov announced here Wednesday.
Preparations would last for about four weeks. Several groups comprising three deep-sea divers -- one Norwegian and two Russians-- will be involved, Klebanov told the press following a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
The Russian divers will most probably be chosen from the Northern Fleet divers' team, one of them will remain outside and the other will enter the sub. The Norwegian diver will remain in the diving team to work with the submarine, Klebanov said.
He said the operation will "last as long as is needed to lift all the bodies."
He also said that he had informed the president of the first round of talks with Norwegian partners on ways to lift the submarine, held in Murmansk on Tuesday. Consultations on this issue will be continued at the Rubin Design Bureau in St.Petersburg on Thursday, he said.
"Work to lift the submarine is to begin in September 2001. If we are properly prepared, it will be done quickly," said Klebanov.
He said Putin and he also discussed the national defense budget for the year 2001. "The budget has remained unchanged so far and amounts to 206 billion rubles (7.44 billion U.S. dollars). This figure is sufficient. If it is increased, the federal budget balance may be upset," he noted.
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