CIA Plot Considered Behind Mishap of Russia Submarine
August 19, 2000 - 0:0
TEHRAN A report from Moscow said that Russian submarine Kursk crashed into U.S. submarine and observers here believe that it was a CIA plot to destroy it.
The Russian daily Sevodnya on Friday published what it claimed was credible evidence suggesting the nuclear submarine Kursk had crashed into U.S. submersible, which then limped to a Norwegian port.
During the Cold War, U.S. tried many times to destroy Kursk as it is considered to be the most important and dangerous.
"I'm sure the CIA engineered a plot and destroyed Kursk," an informed source told the TEHRAN TIMES.
The Moscow daily reported that Russian ships detected after the catastrophe on Saturday the presence of another submarine also lying grounded at the bottom of the Barents Sea.
No other Russian submersible was in the area at the time, according to Sevodnya.
The newspaper's sources, apparently military, said that the Russian Navy subsequently overheard radio communications establishing that a U.S. submarine requested permission to enter a Norwegian port, and then made its way there at reduced speed.
U.S. Orion reconnaissance planes flew over the area on Sunday, the sources added.
Experts cited by Sevodnya said that only an Ohio-class strategic U.S. submarine could have survived such a massive collision with the Kursk.
But they underlined that such a craft does not carry out surveillance missions and had no reason to be in the vicinity when the Northern Fleet was carrying out military exercises.
The newspaper suggested that Moscow and Washington could have agreed secretly not to reveal the incident, pointing out that Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton had a telephone conversation Wednesday after which the Russian president gave the order to accept foreign help "from any quarter.
" Moscow had until then refused all international offers of assistance.
The U.S. military admitted after news of the accident Monday that two of their submarines had been in the same zone, but firmly denied that a U.S. vessel could have been involved in a collision.
The Russian Navy Chief, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, said on Monday that the Kursk had likely crashed into a vessel, perhaps a foreign one spying on it, but later suggested an explosion on board had rocked the craft.
The navies of both countries continue to closely monitor each other under the seas despite the end of the Cold War, an expert from the AVN military news agency, Vladimir Urban, told AFP.
According to another report of AFP public anger with the government's handling of the crises mounted as one of Russia's strongest backers of President Putin accused the head of state of being "amoral" for vacationing on the Black Sea while the trapped sailors slowly ranout of air.
Putin defended himself Friday, saying that he had decided to let professionals attend to the rescue mission while being constantly informed of events by his security ministers.
Meanwhile according to the latest dispatch received from DPA, an operation to save possible survivors of the Russian submarine disaster in the Barents sea ran into new problems Friday as rescuers in undersea capsules were unable to get inside the sunken vessel.
After days of failed attempts to dock onto the nuclear submarine Kursk, a Russian rescue capsule finally latched on but was unable to pump out water from the connecting space and open the hatch because of hull damage, a naval worker said on Russian RTR television.
No signs of life have been heard from the 118-man crew of the nuclear submarine since Monday when knocking was heard on the hull, 100 meters below the surface, RTR quoted the navy command as saying.
Both Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and a government commission led by Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said the Kursk most likely sank after colliding with an "object of heavy tonnage" during military exercises last Saturday.
Crews of submersible craft working around the submarine have sighted a large hole in the bow of the Kursk. Klebanov said that a large number of the crew may have died immediately as water poured into the ruptured submarine and flooded its two forward compartments in a few minutes.
The Russian daily Sevodnya on Friday published what it claimed was credible evidence suggesting the nuclear submarine Kursk had crashed into U.S. submersible, which then limped to a Norwegian port.
During the Cold War, U.S. tried many times to destroy Kursk as it is considered to be the most important and dangerous.
"I'm sure the CIA engineered a plot and destroyed Kursk," an informed source told the TEHRAN TIMES.
The Moscow daily reported that Russian ships detected after the catastrophe on Saturday the presence of another submarine also lying grounded at the bottom of the Barents Sea.
No other Russian submersible was in the area at the time, according to Sevodnya.
The newspaper's sources, apparently military, said that the Russian Navy subsequently overheard radio communications establishing that a U.S. submarine requested permission to enter a Norwegian port, and then made its way there at reduced speed.
U.S. Orion reconnaissance planes flew over the area on Sunday, the sources added.
Experts cited by Sevodnya said that only an Ohio-class strategic U.S. submarine could have survived such a massive collision with the Kursk.
But they underlined that such a craft does not carry out surveillance missions and had no reason to be in the vicinity when the Northern Fleet was carrying out military exercises.
The newspaper suggested that Moscow and Washington could have agreed secretly not to reveal the incident, pointing out that Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton had a telephone conversation Wednesday after which the Russian president gave the order to accept foreign help "from any quarter.
" Moscow had until then refused all international offers of assistance.
The U.S. military admitted after news of the accident Monday that two of their submarines had been in the same zone, but firmly denied that a U.S. vessel could have been involved in a collision.
The Russian Navy Chief, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, said on Monday that the Kursk had likely crashed into a vessel, perhaps a foreign one spying on it, but later suggested an explosion on board had rocked the craft.
The navies of both countries continue to closely monitor each other under the seas despite the end of the Cold War, an expert from the AVN military news agency, Vladimir Urban, told AFP.
According to another report of AFP public anger with the government's handling of the crises mounted as one of Russia's strongest backers of President Putin accused the head of state of being "amoral" for vacationing on the Black Sea while the trapped sailors slowly ranout of air.
Putin defended himself Friday, saying that he had decided to let professionals attend to the rescue mission while being constantly informed of events by his security ministers.
Meanwhile according to the latest dispatch received from DPA, an operation to save possible survivors of the Russian submarine disaster in the Barents sea ran into new problems Friday as rescuers in undersea capsules were unable to get inside the sunken vessel.
After days of failed attempts to dock onto the nuclear submarine Kursk, a Russian rescue capsule finally latched on but was unable to pump out water from the connecting space and open the hatch because of hull damage, a naval worker said on Russian RTR television.
No signs of life have been heard from the 118-man crew of the nuclear submarine since Monday when knocking was heard on the hull, 100 meters below the surface, RTR quoted the navy command as saying.
Both Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and a government commission led by Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said the Kursk most likely sank after colliding with an "object of heavy tonnage" during military exercises last Saturday.
Crews of submersible craft working around the submarine have sighted a large hole in the bow of the Kursk. Klebanov said that a large number of the crew may have died immediately as water poured into the ruptured submarine and flooded its two forward compartments in a few minutes.