Kursk rescuers say Russians hampered operations

Kursk rescuers say Russians hampered operations
REUTERS

AUG 24: A Norwegian military commander said he had threatened to call off his rescue bid for the Kursk because of poor information. A member of the British submersible team rushed to the aid of the Kursk, trapped on the bottom of the Barents Sea, said Russian prevarication obstructed their mission, media reported.

"I was really angry," a Norwegian daily quoted Rear Admiral Einar Skorgen as saying.

Paddy Heron, part of a team sent from Britain with a state-of-the-art LR5 rescue mini-submarine, said his team was "bitterly disappointed" the Russians had not permitted them to perform the rescue job they had been sent for.

"Any arrangement or proposed operation that they spoke about was rescinded, gone back on, altered or countermanded," Heron said.

Heron said the British team had been "revolted" to hear the Russians say they had done everything they could.

"We had one of the most sophisticated vessels available in Europe sitting at the wreck site with a submersible specifically designed to rescue men from submarines. The Russians would not let us use that," he said.

Skorgen, heading the Norwegian divers' mission and head of the armed forces in North Norway, said he telephoned the Northern Fleet to say the mission would be in jeopardy unless Russia provided correct data.

"I think this was understood as a threat from my side, yes," he said.

"At times there were so many wrong details and disinformation from Russia that it was close to endangering the divers," Skorgen said. "We couldn't rely on the information we were getting," he said.

Russia wrongly said, for instance, that an escape hatch on the Kursk was so severely damaged that it would be hard to open. The divers opened it easily. And it had told Norway that currents near the Kursk were strong. The divers had no problems and visibility was good.

Skorgen said, however, that the operation was helped by a "hot-line" to Northern Fleet headquarters from his offices in Bodoe, northern Norway. The line was set up in 1999 and was used for a first time during the submarine crisis.

After one call to Northern Fleet headquarters seekinginformation about the construction of an emergency hatch, Skorgen said that commander Vyacheslav Popov took charge.

"He personally took over and ensured that our experts were flown by helicopter to another submarine of the Oscar II class to study hatches and links," Skorgen said.