RF Navy press service: Sunday Times article about Kursk wreck is a provocation

The statements made by "an unnamed admiral" concerning the causes of the Kursk disaster published in the Sunday Times were a provocation, Capt. Igor Dygalo, aide to the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy and head of the fleet press service, said Monday. Pravda.ru already announced today that this unnamed admiral had told the British newspaper Sunday Times that the Kursk had been sunk by a missile launched from the Russian nuclear cruiser Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great). These statements, Dygalo said, are aimed only at stirring up discussion of the causes of the disaster before the investigation is over. "It is another attempt to create tension in society, to entangle the tragedy in lies and make one draw unfounded conclusions," Interfax cites him as saying. "The [Russian] navy has never commented and will never comment on the statements made by various anonymous sources that do not want to identify themselves." Dygalo insisted that it is up to the ad hoc governmental committee involved in the Kursk investigation to provide information to the Russian and foreign public.