Criticism of Putin strong in Russia over Kursk (08/27/00)

Criticism of Putin strong in Russia over Kursk

RFE/RL Newsline

MOSCOW - Following announcements by Norwegian and Russian officials that all the crewmen of the sunken Kursk submarine are dead, Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev told Russian Public Television (ORT) on August 21 that, while it cannot be ruled out that some mistakes occurred during the rescue operation, he believes that "in the heat of the moment, fundamental mistakes were not made." [President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine has acknowledged that many of the sailors aboard the Kursk were from Ukraine, originally assigned to the Black Sea Fleet.]

In the same interview Mr. Sergeev continued to assert that a collision with "an underwater object" the same size as the Kursk was the cause of the disaster. He said that Russia has "localized" the object but is unable to identify it. NATO, he continued, has denied that any of its vessels were in the area at the time of the disaster, but he added that "they have told us that even if that had happened, they would never acknowledge it."

There has been no let-up in the media criticism in Russia of officials' handling of the rescue operation. Novye izvestiya, controlled by Boris Berezovskii, accused officials of concealing the truth from the public, saying that the "Norwegian divers broke through the lies and sabotage." Segodnya, part of Vladimir Gusinskii's Media-MOST group, argued that the Kursk tragedy has shown the "catastrophic" weakness of the Russian state. Nezavisimaya gazeta, also owned by Mr. Berezovskii, criticized Mr. Putin for not traveling to the scene of the disaster, adding that after the successes of his first 100 days in office, the president now appears to be "running on the spot."

Vremya MN, which reportedly receives indirect financing from Russia's Central Bank, predicted that "a hot political autumn" awaits Mr. Putin: "The catastrophe in the Barents Sea is becoming a cause to create a united opposition against the president."

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