KURSK FOUNDATION CALLS RICH COUNTRIES TO DONATE FOR WRECKED NUKE SUB LIFT








THE HAGUE, March 1. /From RIA Novosti's Andrei Poskakukhin/. The Kursk foundation appealed to the Prime Ministers of the EU countries, Japan, Canada, Norway and the USA to donate 1.9 million euros each for the lift of Russia's Kursk nuclear submarine, wrecked in the Barents Sea last August.


	If the collection is a success, it will bring a half of the necessary sum, Russia to allocate the rest, the foundation says in a statement circulated today.


	The Kursk foundation calls the Premiers to be quick as subarctic weather allows the lift only in July and August. If the lift is put off from next summer, it will be more risky if at all practicable.


	The statement refers to a prominent Western-based bank which has announced that it is ready to finance the endeavour if Western countries' governments provide letters of guarantee to the Kursk foundation within a few weeks.


	The statement was signed by foundation co-chairmen Alexander Bessmertnykh, once USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Willem van Eckelen, formerly the Netherlands' Minister of Defence and Western European Union president.