Detailed information on the fire that killed 14 people on Monday in a Russian army search submarine based in the Far North "will not be made public," the Kremlin announced on Wednesday, citing "state secrecy ".
"This information can not be made completely public, it is in the category of state secrets," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, calling the decision "perfectly normal".
"However, the staff of the Russian armed forces has full information" on the tragedy, added Dmitry Peskov. Fourteen sailors, including seven first-rate captains - the highest rank of seafarers - were killed on Monday evening, poisoned by the fumes from the fire of a mysterious submarine intended, according to the official version, to the study of marine environments and the ocean floor.
A submersible "unusual" according to Vladimir Putin
The army gave very little detail about the accident, but President Vladimir Putin confirmed that it was an "unusual" submarine. He ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to visit Severomorsk, a closed military port in the Russian Arctic, to "establish the causes of this tragedy". According to the Russian media, the aircraft in question could be the nuclear submarine AS-12, nicknamed "Locharik", an unarmed secret craft designed for research and special operations at great depths.
This accident is reminiscent of the tragedy of the nuclear-powered submarine Kursk, flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet, which sank during maneuvers in the Barents Sea with 118 men aboard on August 12, 2000, at the start of Vladimir Putin's first term. .