Nikolai Rybakov’s Telegram channel, 12.08.2025

Photo: Nikolai Rybakov, Vladimir Dorokhov and Kirill Goncharov at the memorial to the crew of the nuclear submarine cruiser Kursk in Moscow / photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Today, together with colleagues, we came to the memorial to the crew of the nuclear submarine cruiser Kursk in Moscow to honour the memory of the dead sailors on behalf of all Yabloko members.

On 12 August 2000, during exercises in the Barents Sea, the nuclear submarine Kursk sank. All 118 crew members died. This catastrophe became one of the most massive in the history of the Russian Navy.

According to the official version, the cause of the submarine’s destruction was a torpedo explosion due to fuel component leakage, which led to ammunition detonation. After a series of explosions, 23 sailors who remained alive gathered in the ninth aft compartment. Until the last minute they fought for life, believing that help would come.

Whilst the sailors were dying from suffocation, hoping for rescue, the country’s leadership was playing for time. President Vladimir Putin did not interrupt his holiday until 18 August, justifying this by saying that “the arrival of high-ranking officials in the disaster area does not help, and often hinders specialists”.

Commanders Vyacheslav Popov and Vladimir Kuroyedov refused to acknowledge that the Russian fleet lacked technical means to save people, whilst offers of help from Norway and Britain, which possessed the necessary resources, were ignored for several days.

Norwegian divers were only permitted to descend to the boat eight days after the accident. But it was already too late – no survivors remained in the Kursk’s hull.

Twenty-five years have passed, but those guilty of the tragedy have never been named. Key documents have not been declassified, Captain Kolesnikov’s second note has not been given to his family – the one that possibly contains the truth about the death of 118 sailors.

Alas, in a quarter century little has changed in our country – human life has still not become the state’s main value.

But despite the fact that the case of the Kursk’s destruction was closed back in 2002, we will continue to demand the truth about what happened.

Because memory of the Kursk is not only grief. It is also an obligation to those who were not saved, and to those who must not repeat their fate.