News
Publish date: January 28, 2005
News
The agency cited Boris Kuznetsov, a lawyer representing the relatives of the dead sailors, as saying that the appeal had been filed in connection with the Russian courts refusal to launch an additional investigation into the tragedy.
In June 2004 the Moscow District Military Court refused to fulfil a request to start a new investigation into the Kursk submarines sinking. The court turned down Kuznetsovs protests over the results of the expertise concerning the time of death of the crewmembers in the acoustic compartment and also the examination of the SOS signals.
The criminal case into the Kursk tragedy was stopped in July 2003 after a special commission ruled that the explosion on board the submarine was caused by a torpedo accident in the course of a training launch. The Kursk nuclear submarine sank on Aug. 12, 2000 in the course of large-scale naval exercises. All 118 crewmembers were killed in the disaster.
An accident aboard numerous Volgoneft oil tankers in the Kerch in mid December clearly show what can happen to aged ships when they are operated in bad weather—and when economic and military objectives are prioritized over the lives of crews and environmental safety.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.