Russia goes full speed ahead to raise sunken submarine

MOSCOW - Deep-sea divers are heading for the Barents Sea to begin a controversial and swiftly organised operation to raise the giant Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kursk, which blew up and sank on August 12 last year, killing all on board.

The international team of British, Russian, Norwegian and Dutch divers on board the vessel Mayo, which sailed from Aberdeen, will first clear debris from around the wreck of the 14,000-tonne submarine and cut holes in the hull so cables can be attached.

Chainsaws operated by robots will then cut off the mangled front half of the Kursk, which may still contain unexploded torpedoes.

In two months' time, 20 winches will slowly raise the rear part of the submarine, containing the bodies of some of the 118 crew, so it can be towed to port.

It is a hastily arranged operation. In May, Russia dropped the international salvage companies with whom it was negotiating because they thought raising the Kursk this year was too dangerous.

The consortium wanted to wait until summer 2002. Ilya Klebanov, the Russian minister in charge of the operation, said: "We could not go along with that."

The explanation for the Russian emphasis on speed is simple enough.

Yury Gladkeyevich of the military news agency AVN said: "The number one reason is that [President Vladimir] Putin promised the families of the crew last year that he would bring the Kursk back to the surface. He can't back out of it now."

Mr Putin's notorious failure to return from holiday on the Black Sea coast for several days after the Kursk sank was, by his own admission, a low point in his presidency.

Andrei Piontkovsky of the Centre for Strategic Studies said: "His opinion poll ratings went down at the time because this was the elementary human reaction to his apparent indifference. When he and his PR men realised how badly they had damaged themselves they feverishly made promises, including the promise to raise the submarine."

The Russian navy is eager to ensure that nobody else is able to look inside the Kursk and, in particular, any of its Granit cruise missiles, which may be intact.

Mr Gladkeyevich said: "Security is a factor, but there are cheaper ways of ensuring it. All you need is surface patrols to deter intruders."

The Russian government has been putting out plenty of information about the operation, but is clearly nervous.

Viktor Litovkin, military expert on Obshaya Gazeta newspaper, said: "Nobody has ever done this before. When the US tried to salvage a Soviet nuclear submarine in the Pacific, they failed."

No one knows the exact state of the two nuclear reactors in the rear of the submarine, or the missiles and torpedoes in the front half, or what will happen if they are moved.

- INDEPENDENT