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Russian Submarine Disaster a Blow to Putin August 28, 2000 Moscow's hopes for a revival of the Russian suffered a serious setback with the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea on Aug. 12. The Kursk, one of the newest Russian cruise-missile submarines, was participating in the largest Russian naval maneuvers in years. The Kursk had successfully completed a torpedo-firing run and was preparing for another. In a radio transmission monitored by the American surveillance ship Loyal, the submarine captain received the task-force commander's permission to fire. But instead of the sounds of torpedoes being blown from launch tubes, sonar operators aboard U.S. submarines heard two explosions, one small and the second enormous. A Norwegian seismic institute later said that the second blast carried the force of two tons of TNT and registered 3.5 on the Richter scale. Russian officials made no announcement of the disaster for two days, then issued a statement that there had been a "technical fault" with the vessel. Later, Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev claimed that the Kursk had collided with another vessel. In the past, Soviet and U.S. vessels have had near collisions while monitoring each other, but the U.S. Defense Department rejected Russian claims that U.S. submarines were involved. Photos later obtained by underwater cameras show that the explosion tore open the entire forward section of the 490-foot submarine. "The majority of the crew was in the part of the boat that was hit by the catastrophe that developed at lightning speed," reported Ilya Klebanov, Deputy Prime Minister. The tapping out of SOS signals in Morse code indicated that some crew members survived for a time in the aft sections of the submarine, but the Russians refused to accept help in rescuing the sailors until four days after the accident. On Aug. 21, a team of Norwegian divers managed to open the damaged outer hatch of the sunken Russian submarine. They found no sign that any of the crewmembers were alive. The cause of the explosions on the Kursk remained unclear. However, a botched test launch of a new torpedo has emerged as the most likely cause of the submarine disaster. Two civilians on the Kursk when it sank were testing torpedoes that may have exploded on launch, detonating the blast that tore open the bow. Reports over the weekend said that the civilians, from the Dagdizel naval weapons center in Dagestan, were aboard to verify that the torpedo was working as it should. The Red Star military newspaper reported that the Kursk had been carrying liquid-fueled weapons. Submarine officers, including Gennadi Lyachin, the Kursk's captain, had complained that the liquid fuel system could explode inside a torpedo tube, making it more dangerous than the compressed-air one it replaced. The Kursk normally carries 24 cruise missiles able plus 28 torpedoes. Russian President Vladimir Putin had little to say about the disaster. He left for vacation retreat in Sochi on the day of the accident and sent no messages of condolence to the fleet or to the families of the trapped sailors. On Aug. 16, in response to questions by reporters, he admitted that the situation on the Kursk was "critical" but claimed, "All necessary and possible efforts to save the crew have been carried out." However, Russian officials rejected U.S., French, British and Norwegian offers of help. By the time Putin finally ordered the navy to accept help on Aug. 16, it was already a near certainty that any survivors would be dead before the rescuers could reach the area. Since the end of the cold war, the Russian navy has declined from 613 ships to around 95 today. Of those ships remaining in the Russian inventory, only 10% are considered seaworthy. The exercise in which the Kursk was sunk reflected President Vladimir Putin's declared intention to rebuild the navy. The maneuvers were intended as a practice run for a Russian show-of-force in the Mediterranean later this year to be led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. The loss of the Kursk is a major setback for these plans and a humiliation for Putin. While Putin's credibility with the Russian public has been damaged by the Kursk disaster, it is unclear whether this will hurt him politically. Putin has remained popular throughout the bloody fighting for Chechnya, and he can place most of the blame for the plight of the navy on his predecessor. In addition, the typical reaction of a dictator when faced with internal dissent is to crack down on the opposition. The Kursk disaster may give Putin the pretext for cracking down, and if so, could leave him stronger than before. The result, however, would be one more nail in the coffin for democracy in Russia. |
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
The Haunted Wood
Soviet Espionage in America
Allen Weinstein & Alexander Vassiliev
This study of Soviet espionage in the United States focuses on Americans who, from the '30s through the '50s, passed information to Soviet agents.
