DECISION ON LIFTING KURSK SUBMARINE CAN BE TAKEN AT RUSSIA-EU SUMMIT








THE HAGUE, March 12. /From RIA Novosti correspondent Andrei Poskakukhin/ -- The concrete decision on hoisting the Kursk submarine may be taken at the Russia-EU summit slated to be held in Stockholm in March. As secretary of the Kursk international fund Rio Praaning from the Netherlands noted in an interview with RIA Novosti, the differences between Russia and its international partners on financing the operation to lift the submarine can be settled there.


	According to Praaning, the essence of these differences boils down to the participation of Russia in the fulfilment of the European Union's ecological programme for elimination of nuclear waste in the north-west of Russia (MNERP).


	As the secretary of the Fund explained, the EU is insisting that at first an agreement about this programme be reached between Russia and the EU, and the submarine which sank in the Barents Sea in August 2000 be then lifted on the basis of this programme. And, as he said, the Russian side's stand is that it is ready to link the hoisting of the Kursk and the MNERP programme but it wants first to receive western assistance in lifting the submarine and to deal with the ecological programme only after that.


	Praaning recalled that the State Duma (parliament's lower chamber) of the Russian Federation is delaying the taking of an agreement on the MNERP while the EU is stating its preparedness to help Russia lift the Kursk as soon as the Duma approves this agreement.


	Praaning hopes that at the forthcoming Russia-EU summit meeting in Stockholm Vladimir Putin will make a statement making it possible to reach a compromise between Russia and its partners and, within the shortest time, to start carrying out the operation on lifting the Kursk.


	Praaning holds the view that if Putin states Russia's consent to simultaneously decide the questions of hoisting the submarine and implementing the programme for utilization of nuclear waste the West will not wait for the end of the procedure in the State Duma for the formal approval of the MNERP agreement and will immediately give the money necessary for hoisting the Kursk.


	On the day before, Russian Vice-Premier Ilya Klebanov said that the lift of the sunken submarine is being put off to the end of summer - the beginning of autumn because of the delay in the signing of a contract between the Central Design Office Rubin (St. Petersburg) at which the submarine was designed and the international consortium which will carry out the operation. Klebanov linked it with the difficulty of collection of money by the Kursk fund.


	Praaning noted in this connection that if neither of the sides makes efforts to achieve a compromise "the Kursk will remain on the bottom of the Barents Sea". He recalled that, in expert opinion, the submarine should be lifted as early as possible in the summer of this year beginning from July. If the carrying out of such an operation is postponed, say, to this autumn it will become even more dangerous, specifically for the people participating in it. According to the secretary of the Fund, "the last weeks during which the effective preparation for lifting the Kursk can be started remain".


	As Praaning who is coordinating the work to attract financial resources of the western states to the operation on hoisting the Kursk stated, "either the western countries will provide the required 50 per cent of the sum necessary for carrying out this operation, or there will not be any money at all", meaning that the sum must amount to at least 70 million dollars. According to the accords attained, Russia itself will allocate the other half - 35 million dollars.