Russia mourns sub dead

President Putin meets a dead sailor's relative

Russia is entering a day of national mourning for the 118 sailors who died in the Kursk submarine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been in the Murmansk region, meeting those involved in the rescue and also the families of the sailors who have been lost.

He is expected to visit the scene of the accident on Wednesday to lay a wreath on the waves of the Barents Sea where the nuclear submarine sank on 12 August.

My heart hurts, but yours hurt even more

Vladimir Putin

Mr Putin's meeting with sailors' relatives in the closed naval town of Vidyaevo, near Murmansk, came on the first day of his visit to the Russian Northern Fleet headquarters and follows severe criticism of his leadership during the Kursk crisis.

"The grief is immeasurable, there are not enough words of comfort," Mr Putin told the relatives, according to the Interfax news agency.

"My heart hurts, but yours hurt even more."

Tense occasion

Russian state television showed one of the relatives of the submariners in the audience venting her anger.

"When will we get them back, dead or alive? Answer as the president," she asked, referring to the bodies of the sailors.

Mr Putin replied that he would tell her if he himself knew the answer.

A BBC correspondent in Murmansk, James Coomarasamy, says many feel Mr Putin's visit to the fleet's headquarters has come much too late.

He says the meeting with relatives is reported to have lasted three hours, and was clearly a tense occasion.

Mr Putin has decreed that flags be lowered on all state buildings, and that television stations refrain from broadcasting entertainment programmes for the day of mourning.

Kursk sailors' relatives comfort a grieving woman

Before facing the assembled relatives, Mr Putin met leaders of the rescue operation and called on the wife of the Kursk's commander, Irina Lyachin.

Earlier a group of relatives speaking to the BBC in Murmansk threatened to tear him to shreds if he appeared in the city without security guards to protect him.

Deep grief

More than 500 relatives mourning the loss of sons, husbands and fathers converged on the city as efforts to rescue the sailors dragged on unsuccessfully for nine days.

Kursk timeline

12 Aug: Sinks during Barents Sea exercises

14 Aug: Russian navy inspects sub

15 Aug: Attempts to attach rescue capsule fail

16 Aug: Russians report no signs of life. Accept help from the West

17 Aug: British and Norwegian craft readied for rescue attempt

19 Aug: British and Norwegian teams arrive at scene

20 Aug: Norwegian divers examine Kursk

21 Aug: Divers enter flooded sub

22 Aug: President Putin arrives in Murmansk

Many only found out their relatives were on board the submarine after a Russian newspaper bribed an official to obtain a list of names and printed it.

But in a television broadcast the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexiy II, assured viewers that the government would do everything possible to help the families overcome the tragedy.

"I can testify to the deep grief which has gripped Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin]," he said.

"Have courage and forgive us."

Mr Putin has been criticised for failing to curtail his holiday on the Black Sea and return to Moscow until the fourth day after the accident occurred.

He has also been blamed for Russia's delay in accepting international offers of help to rescue the trapped sailors.

Flags at half-mast

The operation finally came to an end on Monday after a Norwegian-led team of divers forced open the submarine's rear escape hatch and found that the whole of the vessel was flooded.

The Kursk crew (pictured in October 1999)

During the meeting with relatives Mr Putin criticised the state of the Russian navy's rescue equipment.

For the day of mourning, the Russian flag is to be flown at half-mast throughout the country, while television and radio stations have been asked to drop entertainment shows from their schedules.

An inquiry into the disaster will initially focus on examining the seabed around the wreck.

Russia has asked for international help to recover the bodies of the crew, and to raise the submarine to the surface.

The cause of the disaster is still unclear.

Russian officials say they believe the submarine may have collided with a Western submarine that was in the Barents Sea to monitor a large naval exercise in which the Kursk was taking part.

Western experts say the damage to the submarine appears to have been caused by a catastrophic explosion in the torpedo bay.