Russian Prosecutor General To Head Kursk Investigation

Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov is due to arrive Monday evening in Severomorsk by a special Russian Air Force flight, said RIA Novosti's well-informed source in the Northern Fleet Headquarters. He said that Ustinov would go from Severomorsk to Roslyakovo to head the group of investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office and the Military Prosecutor's Office involved in the investigation of the Kursk's wreck. The submarine sank in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000. Ustinov along with investigators, and the military medical experts will be the first to enter the Kursk even before all the works in the drydock are completed. The day before the Giant-4 barge with the submarine fastened to its bottom was towed into the 50th drydock in Roslyakovo village. After the submarine is separated from the barge, the latter will be towed out of the drydock. According to Deputy Commander of the Russian Navy Mikhail Barskov, the works will take about 133 hours. "We are only starting the most complicated stage of the operation," he said. According to the Northern Fleet spokesman Vladimir Navrotsky, the operation on stationing the submarine raised from the seabed into the drydock, conducted Sunday, was unique and had no analogues in the naval history. "The operation was carried out brilliantly, in spite of unfavourable weather conditions," he emphasized.