Norway thinks there are nuclear weapons aboard Kursk

Another row is ripening in the West around the planned lifting of the Russian Kursk nuclear submarine which crashed and sank in August last year. One can gather from a footage televized by the Norwegian TV-2 network that aboard the Kursk there are 2 missiles tipped with 500 kiloton nuclear warheads each. The television channel cites Grigori Tomchin, a Russian State Duma deputy and a member of the government commission probing the causes of the Kursk sub crash, and also Harald Ramfjord, an engineer at the Global Tool company, who has allegedly come across secret documents testifying to nuclear weapons being installed aboard the sub. Mr. Ramfjord said in an interview that once there are nuclear missiles onboard, it is not worth lifting (Global Tool Management is one of the companies who has offered its equipment for raising the Kursk). However, the Russian Navy command has immediately turned down the allegations. They assert there are no nuclear weapons aboard the submarine because vessels taking part in exercises are not normally supplied with nuclear weapons. Most likely, we deal here either with a canard or with an attempt by Global Tool Management to back out of the undertaking under a “plausible” pretext. Most likely, there are really no nuclear weapons aboard the Kursk. Even if you assume there are those 2 missiles there, they hardly pose any threat for the lifting operation - they cannot be activated without being launched. In any case, the Kursk’s nuclear reactors – which are surely there - pose much bigger threat. For some reason, the controversial engineer did not mention it.