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Kursk was sunk 'by stray Russian missile'
Christine Toomey and Mark Franchetti, Moscow
A RUSSIAN admiral close to the investigation into the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine has claimed the disaster was caused by a cruise missile misfired from a command vessel overseeing naval exercises.
The admiral, who declined to be named, told The Sunday Times: "It is 100% certain that a cruise missile went the wrong way." This, he said, set off a catastrophic chain of events that ended with huge explosions inside the submarine and the deaths of all 118 men on board.
According to his account, a Granit missile - better known by its Nato designation, Shipwreck - was fired from the warship Peter the Great and hit the water directly above the submarine, 30 miles away in the Barents Sea.
The missile, equipped with a dummy warhead, would have disintegrated on contact with the water. However, the explosion of its liquid fuel could have been just enough to destabilise the submarine.
This, in turn, is thought to have caused one of the submarine's torpedoes to shake loose from its mounting, leak fuel and explode. Within minutes the resulting fireball had set off further explosions of the Kursk's munitions, sending it plunging to the seabed.
The admiral said crucial documents relating to the incident, one of Russia's worst peacetime disasters, were missing.
"A lot of documents concerning the Kursk are being hidden, using the convenient excuse that they have been handed over to investigators into the accident," he said. "There are those who do not want the exact version of what happened to the Kursk to come out."
The latest explanation of the accident came as the Russian authorities faced fresh accusations of a cover-up. The relatives of at least 20 of the victims are taking legal action against the Russian state in an attempt to obtain all the facts about the incident.
The families want access to classified documents that could help to explain what caused the sinking. They also want to establish whether criminal proceedings can be brought against anyone deemed responsible.
"Of course the navy is doing everything it can to hide the truth from us," said Khalima Ariapova, whose husband Rashid died in the accident. "They know what happened but they are determined to cover it up. They think that with time we, the relatives, will just fade away and stop pestering them. But they are mistaken."
The Russian authorities have repeatedly said the results of their inquiry will not be made public until the Kursk is raised from the seabed - an operation scheduled for next summer.