| Russia is launching an investigation into the Navy's | | | | asking why it was necessary to ask for foreign help. |
| response to the stranding of a mini-sub at the | | | | There are also questions as to how and why it |
| bottom of the Pacific that was rescued Sunday with | | | | happened a second time. This month marks the |
| British help. The memory of the Kursk nuclear | | | | five-year anniversary of the sinking of the nuclear |
| submarine accident five years ago, in which 118 | | | | submarine Kursk with 118 hands on board. |
| people died is still fresh, and the government is | | | | Leading independent military analyst Pavel |
| drawing criticism for its handling of the rescue. | | | | Felgenhauer tells VOA that, unlike in the Kursk |
| Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov Monday | | | | tragedy, Russian officials this time called for outside |
| visited the seven people who were rescued from the | | | | help in time. But still, he says the main lesson of the |
| mini-sub Sunday, after three days stranded on the | | | | Kursk has yet to be learned, and that, he says, is |
| ocean floor off Russia's far-eastern coast, and only | | | | that Russia must have an adequate search and |
| hours, officials say, before they would have run out | | | | rescue service of its own. |
| of oxygen. | | | | "There was a lot of talk, but nothing really improved |
| Mr. Ivanov commended the sailors for their bravery, | | | | operationally," said Mr. Felgenhauer. "Again, right now, |
| and said the Russian Navy would have all the | | | | there is a lot of talk, but no one can be sure that |
| technical equipment and material it needs in the | | | | this talk will transform into real, adequate action." |
| future. | | | | Until that lesson is learned, Mr. Felgenhauer adds, |
| Later, addressing reporters in the Russian Far East, | | | | Russia will be, as he put it, "hopelessly helpless." He |
| he said President Vladimir Putin had ordered a | | | | also said he holds out little hope for this latest official |
| full-scale investigation of the incident off the | | | | probe. |
| Kamchatka Peninsula. | | | | "The problem is, it's going to be a closed military |
| In comments broadcast on Russian television, Mr. | | | | investigation," he said. "We will not know what they |
| Ivanov says the expert commission will examine | | | | determine. It will all be covered with a cloak of |
| thoroughly the actions of fleet forces and defense | | | | secrecy. There will be no parliamentary open inquiries, |
| ministry officials. He also said that the Russian Navy's | | | | there will be nothing really published, and, basically, I |
| second-in-command, Vladimir Masorin, would lead the | | | | believe, the navy and the military will do their best to |
| investigation of how the small submarine came to be | | | | sort of sweep it all under the carpet." |
| trapped under water for three days. | | | | The Russian press was equally critical Monday. The |
| A British underwater rescue vehicle helped lift the sub | | | | Gazeta daily said on its front page that no one had |
| to the surface on Sunday, and all seven sailors on | | | | learned the lessons from the Kursk. The newspaper |
| board were rushed to the hospital. There they were | | | | went on to say that, only when the situation was |
| placed in cardiac care, due to hypothermia and | | | | near critical, did the navy's top leadership ask for |
| hypoxia, and are expected to remain under close | | | | outside help. |
| watch for three days. | | | | "It wasn't our victory," wrote another popular daily, |
| The sailors' close brush with death has many in Russia | | | | Moskovsky Komsomolets. |