Round up the usual suspects

By Aussiegirl

And of course, round up the usual suspects. And don't forget that Russia has a nifty rescue sub just like the one the Brits and the Americans have. You think there is something that the decadent West has that Russia does not also have? Ours was just busy doing other stuff.

USATODAY.com - Criminal probe opens in Russia sub case

Russian prosecutors said Tuesday they have opened a criminal investigation into how seven men were trapped in a mini-submarine in the Pacific last week after initial findings pointed to negligence on the part of officials overseeing the mission.

The mini-sub surfaces Sunday after it was freed from underwater cables.
British Ministry of Defense

Amid a flurry of questions about the preparedness of the navy to handle such crises, the Pacific Fleet commander said millions will be spent to buy two rescue vehicles similar to the British vessel that cut the 44-foot sub free.

New details also emerged about the mission the AS-28 submarine was on when it became stuck some 620 feet underwater.

Capt. Valery Lepetyukha, one of the six navy sailors on board, revealed that the vessel had been sent to investigate an underwater surveillance antenna that had been entangled in fishing nets. The seventh man was an employee with the company that manufactured the AS-28.

"We inspected one side, then the other side of the device, that is to say, we were not immediately tangled," Lepetyukha said in televised comments. "Then we found a hanging rope and went around it. While going around it, we apparently were caught by the net. We had no light in the back."

Roman Kolbanov, deputy military prosecutor for the Pacific Fleet, said investigators already have determined that officials responsible for preparing and overseeing the sub's mission committed unspecified violations.

Russian ships initially were able to latch onto the sub and the cables snagging it with a trawling apparatus, but moved it less than 330 feet. The remote-controlled rescue vehicle sent by the British, known as the Scorpio, then spent six hours Sunday cutting away the cables that had snarled the sub and its propeller.

After breaking free, the AS-28 floated to the surface, ending a more than three-day ordeal in frigid temperatures during which supplies of oxygen and water were dwindling.

Kolbanov said experts from the Defense Ministry, Federal Security Service and Finance Ministry would join with naval and other officials in an exhaustive investigation covering everything from the sub's construction to the rescue operation itself.

A man who answered the phone at AS-28 manufacturer Lazurit Central Design Bureau declined to comment about the investigation. He identified himself only as the general director.

The near-tragedy brought back sobering memories of the 2000 Kursk submarine disaster, in which all 118 crew members died. At the time, Russian officials were criticized for not seeking international help in the rescue operation until it was too late.

This time, Russia appealed to Britain and the United States for help just hours after the sub became entangled.

But the Kommersant newspaper reported Tuesday that the navy may have initially refused the sub's request to be towed free, fearing damage to the underwater antenna assembly.

Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent defense analyst, said that the navy's morale and professionalism was continuing to deteriorate and that another major naval disaster was "virtually inevitable."

"After the Kursk, there was also plenty of talk of improvements, but nothing really changed," he said, writing in the English-language Moscow Times newspaper.

Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Viktor Fyodorov said they would buy two Scorpios. Each vessel costs between $1 million and $5 million, depending on the configuration.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, defending the navy's rescue capabilities, said Russia has a vessel similar to the Scorpio deployed with the Northern fleet, but it would have taken too long to disassemble and fly it across the country.

British Cmdr. Ian Riches, who directed the Scorpio's work, said Russian officials had told him that only six hours of oxygen remained on the mini-sub. Lepetyukha, however, insisted on Tuesday that they had enough oxygen for another 36 hours./blockquote><