French Defense Minister Considers Sinking of Kursk Accident of ManeuverFrench Defense Minister Alain Richard said on Monday that the sinking of the Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kursk was "an accident of exercise and maneuver"rather than the result of a collision with another submarine.In an interview with radio Europe 1, Richard said that at the time of the exercise of the Russian Northern Fleet in the Barents Sea, there were only Russian warships present. "My conviction is that this is very probably an accident of exercise, of maneuver, in a surrounding where there were only Russian military ships," he said. Richard also pointed out that there were conventional real shootings during the exercise. Russian officials have repeatedly suggested that "Kursk" could have collided with a British submarine before it sank. |
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