Russia Denies Missile Hit Kursk Submarine
September 9, 2000 - 0:0
MOSCOW Russia denied a German newspaper's report on Friday that the submarine Kursk, which sank last month killing all 118 crew on board, had been struck by a guided Cruise missile fired by a Russian warship.
The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported that Russia's FSB domestic intelligence service had concluded that the cruiser Peter the Great had fired a "granit" Cruise missile which sank the Kursk during training exercises. But Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who led Russia's official investigation into the Kursk disaster, said there was no shooting under way at the time the Kursk sank, and no live ammunition was used at all during training. Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo also said no live warheads were used, and the two ships would not have been in the same area.
Klebanov and Dygalo were both responding to Interfax news agency on the German report. There have been previous reports that a Russian missile might have struck the Kursk. Admiral Vladimir Yegorov, head of the Baltic Fleet, which was not involved in the training exercises or the Kursk rescue, said in a television interview last Sunday this was one of the scenarios under investigation.
But the Berliner Zeitung was the first to report that this scenario had been confirmed by Russia's FSB itself, Gisbert Mrozek, the journalist who wrote the story, told Reuters.
(Reuter)
The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported that Russia's FSB domestic intelligence service had concluded that the cruiser Peter the Great had fired a "granit" Cruise missile which sank the Kursk during training exercises. But Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who led Russia's official investigation into the Kursk disaster, said there was no shooting under way at the time the Kursk sank, and no live ammunition was used at all during training. Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo also said no live warheads were used, and the two ships would not have been in the same area.
Klebanov and Dygalo were both responding to Interfax news agency on the German report. There have been previous reports that a Russian missile might have struck the Kursk. Admiral Vladimir Yegorov, head of the Baltic Fleet, which was not involved in the training exercises or the Kursk rescue, said in a television interview last Sunday this was one of the scenarios under investigation.
But the Berliner Zeitung was the first to report that this scenario had been confirmed by Russia's FSB itself, Gisbert Mrozek, the journalist who wrote the story, told Reuters.
(Reuter)