Debris found near Kursk linked to British and US submarines Special report: Russia's stricken submarine Ian Traynor in Moscow Tuesday September 5, 2000 Russian salvage teams at the scene of the Kursk submarine disaster have found an object resembling part of the conning tower of a British or American nuclear submarine, a senior Russian officer said yesterday. Reiterating the Russian navy line that the most likely explanation for the sudden sinking of the Kursk on August 12 was a collision with a foreign vessel, Colonel General Valery Manilov, the deputy chief of the general staff, told a press conference in Moscow that the object was lying at the bottom of the Barents sea, off the coast of Murmansk, and was being guarded by Russian warships. The Russian top brass continued to believe that the likeliest cause of the Kursk disaster was a collision with "an other large underwater object", Gen Manilov declared. Norwegian, British, and American experts have all queried the plausibility of the collision theory. US intelligence last week made it plain that it believed a torpedo explosion in the Kursk had ripped open the hull of the 152-metre (500ft) submarine and precipitated its instant flooding and sinking, killing 118 seamen. The Americans confirmed that the US navy had two submarines and a spy ship in the Barents sea monitoring the Russian naval exercises at the time of the disaster, though leaked information in Washington named only one of the submarines. The Russians later named the mystery submarine as the Toledo and said it was now at the Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland. There were several pieces of indirect evidence to support the collision scenario, Gen Manilov said. "The Kursk probably collided with another submarine whose keel cut open the nose of the [Kursk] submarine and possibly damaged the hull. The collision version is also confirmed by the nature of the other damage to the Kursk - the damage to the tower and the fact that its railings were removed." Only 50 metres from the sunken Kursk, Russian rescue vessels had found "something resembling the railings of a conning tower similar to those fitted on American and British nuclear submarines", the general went on. The mystery object could not be raised from the seabed and so the area was being guarded by Russian battleships, he said. The Russian rescue teams and monitors had also located a raised area on the seabed 500 metres from the Kursk, but this "hillock" subsequently disappeared. >From the very start of the Kursk crisis, senior officers such as Igor Sergeyev, the defence minister, and Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, the navy commander, have pushed the theory that the Kursk was downed by a Nato vessel. Gen Manilov said yesterday that the collision then triggered the explosion of pressurised cylinders on the Kursk. Norwegian, American, and British services who monitored the disaster heard two explosions on the morning of August 12, two and a half minutes apart and the second much louder than the first. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,364456,00.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
