Russian media leads mourning

Russians have looked to the media for answers

By BBC Monitoring's Martin Morgan

The Russian media led the nation in mourning for the submariners who died in the Kursk submarine.

Before the government had even made an announcement about a day of mourning, Russian television screened a series of powerful broadcasts about the tragedy.

A great woe has come, but life goes on ... forgive me for not keeping your men from harm

Admiral Vyacheslav Popov

In an extraordinary live televised address from the deck of the cruiser Peter the Great in the Barents Sea, the commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, made an emotional but dignified appeal for forgiveness to the families of the dead.

"I made an official statement today, that the crew of the submarine Kursk had perished," said Popov, speaking slowly and haltingly. "I now want to speak to the wives, mothers, fathers and children of our dead submariners.

"My dear ones, today a great grief has visited your homes. The cold Barents Sea has taken the lives of your men."

Popov said the accident was a tragedy and the crew were not at fault.

Admiral Popov

"I want to ask you, women, to bring up your sons to be worthy of their fathers. The submariners did their duty to the end."

Three thousand sailors from the Northern Fleet had been involved in rescue operations, Popov said, "but the circumstances were stronger than us."

"A great woe has come, but life goes on. Bring up your children, bring up your sons, and forgive me for not keeping your men from harm."

'Mistakes'

The Russian Public TV channel interviewed Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, who gave an uncomfortable performance on the Vremya news broadcast.

He said it was possible that mistakes were made over the Kursk, but denied that any of them were "fundamental", despite public anger at the delays to the rescue operation and the lack of information about the crew.

He ended the interview with a solemn address to the viewers, in which he acknowledged the ministry's ultimate responsibility for the loss of the submarine.

"We shall never forget that the sailors did everything possible and impossible, but circumstances did not allow them to use the means intended for rescuing people.

"Their memory of them will be preserved in everyone's heart and in the history of the Russian fleet," Sergeyev said.

Roll-call of the dead

The main channels showed roll-calls of the dead against a background of the turbulent Barents Sea that claimed them.

Russian Public Television conducted a series of street interviews in the main northern port, Murmansk which reflected public anger at the slow reaction and secrecy of the navy, which they contrasted with the openness of the media.

" We've been listening to your broadcasts from the very first day. Thank you so much for keeping us informed from the beginning. We live here in Murmansk, and in the first days there was absolutely no news at all," one woman said.

Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who is chairing the commission into the sinking of the Kursk, spoiled the mood somewhat on Tuesday by rounding on the media for what he called "cheap sensationalism" in its reporting.

His comments suggest some members of the government have yet to gauge the strength of public opinion over its handling of the tragedy.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.