MOSCOW, August 12 (Itar-Tass) — On Friday, Russians will pay tribute to sailors of the Kursk nuclear submarine, who died eleven years earlier, on 12 August 2000, in the Barents Sea. This tragedy claimed lives of 118 sailors of the Northern Fleet.
Ceremonial formation and laying of wreaths and flowers to the memorial to the dead sailors of the Kursk will be organised in the Vidyayevo garrison to mark this sad anniversary. Mourning ceremonies will be held on all fleets of the Russian Navy, as well as in military districts. Ships and submarines will have half mast flags.
“A wreath-laying ceremony will take place in the Barents Sea at the Gulf of Motovskiy where the fleets command will participate, as well as relatives and family members of dead sailors,” press service of the Defence Ministry said.
In Moscow, a ceremony of laying wreaths will be organised at the memorial to submariners who died, which is by the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, the source said.
The Russian Orthodox Church will pray for repose of the souls of dead submariners. Commemoration events will take place in Kursk, Makhachkala, Voronezh, Sevastopol and other cities of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
According to conclusions of the governmental commission, a torpedo explosion in the forward compartment of the submarine was the cause of the disaster. The commission, which worked for more than two years, established the exact time of the submarine’s end. By the time the submarine was detected on August 13, it was not possible to save 23 sailors who remained in the ninth compartment.