MOSCOW (AP) _ Stunned Russians on Tuesday mourned the 118 sailors who died on a submarine as distraught relatives demanded to be taken to the spot in the Barents Sea where the bodies remained trapped in the wreck.
President Vladimir Putin, criticized for his administration's often bumbling handling of the crisis, flew Tuesday to the navy's main base in northern Russia and was to visit families of the crew quartered nearby, a navy spokesman said. Russian news reports said that he might go on a warship to the area where the Kursk sank on Aug. 12 to honor its sailors.
Norwegian divers on Monday gave first word that the crew was dead. On Tuesday, Norwegian officials said there was no sign of a collision between the Kursk and another vessel, which Russia has given as a possible cause.
Prayers were offered at Russian churches for the dead and money poured into a special fund set up for the survivors as plans were announced for a national day of mourning on Wednesday.
Television stations repeatedly displayed the names of the dead crewmen and showed old footage of the Kursk sailing out of port, its crew at attention on the deck. Film was accompanied by classical music and mournful folk ballads.
The Russian media Tuesday voiced the outrage of many people that their government left it to Norway to announce that all of the sailors aboard the Kursk were dead.
"No one from the leadership of the country had the bravery to announce the death of the sailors," the Nezavisimaya Gazeta said in a banner headline.
"It's time for questions," the daily Izvestia wrote in a lead editorial. "What if? What if they hadn't lied to us? What if they'd invited foreigners without waiting for five days? What if we'd had the proper technology? It's too late."
Putin said a day of national mourning would be held Wednesday to honor the crew, and flags would be lowered to half mast. He asked all television and radio stations to cancel entertainment programs Wednesday out of respect for the dead crew. He promised the government would help the families.
Dazed, mourning relatives who gathered in the northern port of Murmansk demanded the navy take them to where the Kursk lay in 350-foot deep water. The navy was considering taking the relatives on a hospital ship that was standing by in Murmansk, according to Russian news reports.
Russian officials were considering how to recover the bodies of the crew, including using divers. It would be difficult to maneuver the decaying bodies through the submarine's narrow internal hatches and out of the small escape hatch at the rear.
Norway was considering a request from Moscow for assistance in recovering the bodies. The Norwegian rescue team that played a crucial role in trying to save the crew headed home Tuesday, said Norwegian Capt. Erlend Raanes.
Efforts to reach the Kursk were abandoned Monday after Norwegian divers said the crew were all dead. The Norwegian announcement was read on all Russian TV stations, but it took the Russian navy many hours to officially confirm it.
Defensive government and military officials asked for forgiveness, insisting everything possible had been done to rescue the Kursk, which sank after a massive explosion wrecked the vessel. But the government initially refused to accept foreign help and Putin was criticized for not interrupting his summer vacation.
The commander of the Northern Fleet, Adm. Vyacheslav Popov, in a highly unusual public display of contrition, also apologized.
"Forgive me for not saving your sailors," Popov said Monday night, removing his military hat before the camera. Looking directly into the camera, he was wide-eyed and teary.
Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, giving a long interview to ORT television, was at times defensive and apologetic. Sergeyev acknowledged the government may have made some mistakes but had done all it could.
"We are all mourning together with the relatives and loved ones," he said Monday night, then paused and sighed deeply. "We will never forget what the sailors did, that they did all that was possible and impossible."
Russian officials were considering ways to raise the Kursk. There is concern about the two nuclear reactors on the vessel.
But the flooded submarine weighs about 25,000 tons, and any operation to move it could take weeks, if not months. Russian officials said they would make an international appeal for funds.
Sergeyev said the most likely cause of the accident was an initial collision between the Kursk and another "underwater object" comparable in size. He hinted that the object could have been a submarine and said the object was supposedly detected by Russian ships, but no evidence has been produced to back the claim.
The United States and Britain have denied any of their ships were involved.
(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV 08-22-00 0824MDT
