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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=9/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA SUB (UPDATE, L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-266270
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
///EDS: UPDATES 2-266259 WITH GOVERNMENT REACTION, 
ANALYSTS BITE, PARLIAMENT CALL FOR INDEPENDENT 
INQUIRY///
INTRO:  A German newspaper is reporting that a missile 
fired by a Russian warship hit and sank the Russian 
submarine Kursk last month. All crew members aboard 
the nuclear-powered sub died in the accident (on 
August 12th). Russian officials said there were no live 
warheads used during naval exercises and that the two 
vessels were not near each other at the time of the 
accident. VOA's Eve Conant reports from the Russian 
capital officials say a government commission meeting 
on the causes of the disaster might yield more 
information next week.
TEXT:  Russian officials are hotly denying a report by 
the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, which says a 
Russian intelligence report tells how a radar-guided 
missile, fired by the cruiser Peter the Great, sank 
the submarine Kursk. 
The German newspaper said a "Granit" missile had been 
fired from the Russian warship during naval exercises 
in the Barents Sea. The newspaper said no details of 
the exact circumstances of the missile firing are 
available, but it adds that the explosions that sank 
the Kursk would have been visible from the bridge of 
the warship.
The report published in Berlin Friday says Russia's 
President Vladimir Putin received a domestic 
intelligence service report more than a week ago 
detailing the accident. But Russia's Deputy Prime 
Minister Ilya Klebanov said there was no shooting 
underway at the time of the accident and no live 
ammunition was being used.
///ACT KLEBANOV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE UNDER///
He says, "I saw something similar to the German report 
in a regional newspaper ten days ago-they must have 
taken it from there."
Here in Moscow, a press officer for the Federal 
Security Service, the FSB, says there will be no 
comment on the matter - even on whether such a report 
exists. 
///ACT FSB PRESS SERVICE IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE 
UNDER///
An FSB press officer explains that the agency does not 
comment on newspaper reports, "especially" she adds, 
on "information printed in a foreign newspaper."  
/// OPT /// Russia's Interfax news agency also quotes 
a senior Russian navy official as denying a Russian 
missile hit the submarine. 
Independent defense expert Pavel Felgenhauer 
questioned the German report.
            ///ACT FELGENHAUER///
      "Improbable. The problem is that the Granit 
      cruise missile is not designed to hit underwater 
      targets at all. It basically could have hit a 
      submarine, but only when it's on the surface."
            ///End Act///
A second defense specialist, Alexander Golts doubted 
that any foreign newspaper would be able to access a 
Russian intelligence report.
            ///ACT GOLTS///
      I doubt very seriously that any foreign 
      newspaper - as well as Russian - can have a real 
      FSB report on the case of the tragedy of the 
      Kursk. But speaking theoretically, the version 
      they insist upon-that this submarine was 
      attacked by a missile from the Pyotr Veliki 
      (Peter the Great) is very real - as are five or 
      six other versions.
            ///END ACT/// ///END OPT///
The cause of the explosions that ripped through the 
Kursk has been a mystery since the submarine sank to 
the bottom of the Barents Sea on August 12th, killing 
all 118 crewmen on board. Russian officials have 
suggested the Kursk went down following a collision 
with a foreign object. 
The Berliner Zeitung report said the cruiser had been 
fitted with a new enemy-hunting system and had fired 
the missile from the distance of 20 kilometers. It 
quotes the Russian intelligence report as saying an 
underwater explosion was registered aboard the 
cruiser, followed by another moments later. 
Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev on Friday also 
denied a separate report that a Russian intelligence 
submarine was near the Kursk at the time of the 
accident.
///ACT SERGEYEV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE UNDER///
"I can only say that it never happened," says the 
Defense Minister. "There is no submarine of the Chief 
Intelligence Service - it does not even exist."
The United States Navy has told Russia it believes two 
explosions caused the sinking of the Kursk, and that 
the second, more powerful blast led to the immediate 
flooding of the vessel. Deputy Prime Minister Klebanov 
told Interfax that materials given by United States 
specialists contained no new information and that the 
collision was most likely caused by a mine, a 
malfunction in the front section, or a collision with 
an underwater object. He said a government meeting on 
the causes of the disaster would be held next week. A 
Russian parliamentary faction called on Friday for an 
independent inquiry into the cause of the Kursk 
disaster. (Signed)
NEB/EC/GE/KBK 
08-Sep-2000 11:31 AM EDT (08-Sep-2000 1531 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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