The reason of the Kursk crash determined. Sensation did not work out

Vladimir Ustimov – Russia’s Prosecutor General stated today that the reason of the Kursk submarine crash has been determined. It is clear from the prosecutor’s words that the investigation is again giving non-committal statements to the public, which was the case a year ago.

We remind that in the course of the operation to retrieve the submarine, the Northern Fleet command repeatedly stated that the Kursk would be shown to experts only. Then they tempered justice with mercy: we will show you the Kursk, but not the front compartment. Vladimir Ustinov mixed up all the plans of the military men – he personally arrived at the dock in Roslyakovo; he was the first who stepped on board the submarine and was photographed against the background of the conning tower. The public was soon presented with video footage depicting the compartments of the sub.

Then, the Prosecutor General left for Moscow. Ilya Klebanov replaced him in Roslyakovo, having made a series of surprising statements, like, for example that the dents on board the missile cruiser be the result of the vacuum that was formed due to a powerful explosion.

However, today, the Prosecutor General released a statement in Moscow, saying that the reasons of the Kursk crash had been determined. According to him, the investigators believe that the tragedy happened due to a powerful explosion in the front part of the submarine. “The investigation concludes that the submarine sank because of the second explosion, which took place 135 seconds after the first one. We think that the first blast was a torpedo blast, which became a detonator for the explosion of the unit of fire in the front section of the submarine. This is not the final conclusion, but simply a version. The examination of the submarine and work inside it gave us more grounds to think this way,” he said.

At the same time, Vladimir Ustinov rejected the version about the collision of the Kursk with a foreign submarine. “I do not know who claims this, but I may tell you that we have reached no such conclusions,” – the prosecutor claimed.

Therefore, there is a question coming: what was the purpose of today’s statement? For a long time, there haven't been any doubts that the Kursk sank due to the blat. The question is why the blast happened. But, still, there is no answer.

It is also strange that the Office of the Prosecutor General has not com to any conclusion about a possibility for a collision. Where have the facts gone? The facts that were given by the head of the governmental committee for investigation, Ilya Klebanov a week, a month after the tragedy? What happened to those emergency buoys of foreign origin, noticed by the sailors in the area of the catastrophe? And where is the information about SOS, transmitted by some mechanical device, which simply could not be on board the Kursk? Ilya Klebanov himself said that.

These are just several examples of the information that has been surprisingly lost, or forgotten. The situation is not supposed to become that foggy. Are the facts being adapted to the conclusions?

Reuters photo: Russia's Prosecutor General, Vladimir Ustinov, stands in front of the wreckage of the Russian nuclear submarine the Kursk in dry dock in Murmansk, in this footage released by the State Prosecutor, October 27, 2001