1/7/2024 0 Comments Kursk submarine song![]() ![]() Sailors thirsted to serve on the Kursk, because of its reputation as the most advanced nuclear submarine in the Russian fleet. The wives draw some satisfaction from debunking the myths associated with the Kursk's glorious past. Their conversation quickly betrays a sad anger - not simply at the deaths, but at the thankless hardship endured by anyone who dedicates their life to serving the Russian military. Every week, the community of Kursk veterans and relatives gather in one of these flats to continue interminable discussions of what happened last August 12, why the government lied, and why they still don't know the truth. Three widows and their fatherless children moved into it in January and a dozen more are expected soon. Not far from the birch boulevard, a new nine-storey apartment block was rapidly, shoddily finished at the end of last year to house the Kursk bereaved. Sixteen widows said they wanted to move from Vidayevo - the naval base - to Kursk, guided by their affection for the town bred during annual holidays there. An unusually generous state compensation deal provided the family of every dead man with a new flat and 720,000 roubles (£18,000). In the months since the accident, the town has become a refuge for a new community of widows. Everyone knew someone whose life was devastated. Seven families in and around the town had sons and husbands on board dozens of local men had served on the submarine and immediately understood the seriousness of the situation. When state television announced last August that the submarine was in trouble, the news was greeted here with pain. Members of the now dead crew were invited to bring their families here on holiday. Local teenage boys were encouraged to apply to serve on board when the time came for their military service. When the Kursk was patrolling the oceans, its affiliation with the town was a source of great pride to the local administration. She spends several hours a week rearranging a display of memorabilia, a test-tube of salt water from the sea where he died, a letter he sent her from the base, his huge naval overcoat. At home she also talks to the photographs of the skinny 19-year-old, arranged in a shrine in the corner of room where he used to sleep. She comes every few days to inspect its progress and talks to it as if it is, in fact, Dmitri. ![]() Valentina Staroseltseva has chosen one of the birch trees to represent her son. Why should we expect anything except more lies now?" asks Lyuba Kalinina, widowed with two young daughters.Īs the salvage mission begins, the families of the dead men are interested only in whether any bodies can be retrieved for burial and whether the question of how the tragedy happened will finally be answered. ![]() "They lied when they said they were still alive they lied when they said they were going to save them they lied when they said they were going to give them oxygen. Lied to and treated with callous insensitivity by the Russian navy in the aftermath of the catastrophe, the sailors' widows remain bitterly suspicious of the government's capacity for honesty. ![]() It is almost a year since their husbands died, when an unexplained explosion sent the nuclear submarine to the Arctic seabed. ![]()
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