Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=06/19/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-291163

TITLE=RUSSIA / KURSK (L) (CQ)

BYLINE=REBECCA SANTANA

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

/// RE-ISSUING 2-291154 TO CHANGE SEVENTH GRAF IN TEXT; CLARIFIES WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR RAISING KURSK ///

INTRO: A senior Russian official says a faulty torpedo - not a foreign vessel -- was to blame for sinking Russia's premier nuclear submarine two years ago. V-O-A's Rebecca Santana reports from Moscow.

TEXT: Russia's Minister for Trade, Science and Technology, Ilya Klebanov, says (Wednesday) there is only one possible reason for the catastrophe in which 118 people died.

Mr. Klebanov, who heads a committee investigating the incident, said the sinking was caused by a torpedo blast.

Russian officials had initially suggested that the Kursk collided with a foreign submarine or possibly with a World War Two mine. But Mr. Klebanov said his commission is discounting both of those possibilities.

The Kursk went down in August of 2000 in the Barents Sea after an explosion tore the submarine apart. People across the country were glued to their televisions as officials tried without success to rescue the crewmembers.

A note was later found on one of the crewmembers in which he described how some people survived the initial explosions and were trapped inside.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was sharply criticized for staying on vacation at the beginning of the crisis. The Russian president later vowed to bring up the remains of the nuclear powered submarine and bury the crewmembers.

Late last year, a salvage crew working under contract to the Russian government raised most of the submarine from the sea floor and recovered 115 of the bodies on board.

Salvage workers sawed off the front section of the submarine where the torpedoes were located and left it on the sea floor. It was feared the front section might break off during the lifting and endanger the rescue workers as well as the rest of the submarine.

Small sections of the front part of the Kursk have been recovered this year, and investigators used them to piece together what happened. But Mr. Klebanov said there is no need now to raise the rest of the ship.

Mr. Klebanov's committee is expected to release its final report later this year. (Signed)

NEB/RS/JWH/KBK