Putin fires sub commander
2003-09-11 15:10
Moscow - President Vladimir Putin has fired the head of Russia's Northern Fleet following last month's sinking of a nuclear-powered submarine that claimed nine lives, Interfax quoted the head of the navy as saying on Thursday.
"We could have prevented this tragedy," the news agency quoted Russian navy chief Vladimir Kuroyedov as saying.
He said Putin replaced Northern Fleet commander Gennady Suchkov with the fleet's vice-admiral Sergei Simonenko.
Nine Russian sailors died in the K-159 submarine when it sank in the Barents Sea on August 30 while being towed to port for decommissioning.
The submarine wreck is lying at a depth of 238 metres.
The accident came two weeks after Russia marked the three-year anniversary of the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine which went down in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000, killing all 118 crew members, after a fuel leak from a torpedo caused an explosion.
Putin also reshuffled the Northern Fleet's command after the Kursk disaster.