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Another Putin, fully aware of his inability to intervene in the face of disaster, opposed to propaganda games and anxious and even unsure about the future, reveals the transcripts of telephone and personal conversations between US President Bill Clinton and President Bill Clinton. The Russian president on the tragic incident of the sinking of the Soviet nuclear submarine “Kursk” in 2000, during which 118 members of its crew died.
The transcripts were posted on the Bill Clinton Digital Library website on August 29, 2019, dated 1999-2001, and most of which were labeled “top secret.”
One of the old classified documents begins with the Clinton-Putin conversation about the aftermath of the Kursk submarine tragedy, which took place during their meeting on September 6, 2000, in the presidential suite of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.
At the beginning of the discussion, Clinton expressed his condolences for the tragedy with the submarine “Kursk”, while Putin admitted that he had no better option with the situation that developed.
Worried about a new accident
“I found myself choosing between the bad and the worst. Some people told me that if I immediately sent a small submarine and even tried to save people, my popularity would increase. Such things should not be associated with propaganda.” Priority should be given to the real salvation of the people, “Putin told Clinton at the time.” Strangely enough, subsequent polls have shown that this incident did not affect my popularity. “But I am very afraid that something similar will happen again.”
“Powerless”
Additionally, Putin said he felt powerless during the disaster. “The entire crew died in 60 or 90 seconds. We couldn’t tell the relatives.” The Russian president, according to these classified documents, told Clinton that there was a hole in the hull of the submarine “of about two meters, so the first three tanks were flooded.” “I don’t know how we can get the bodies out.” According to the Clinton-Putin conversation paper, Putin had learned at some point that the crew members had died, but had not disclosed this information. “We were trying to curb all this noise, but some strange people kept pushing him,” Putin admitted.
On the day the submarine sank, August 12, 2000 (Putin was serving his 97th day in office), the Russian president left for Sochi on vacation. The tragic event of the sinking was reported only the next day and to the public on August 14. Putin interrupted his vacation and left Sochi for Moscow five days later. For this he had been criticized by the Russian press.
On August 22, the Russian authorities officially acknowledged the deaths of 118 crew members.
The nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea at a distance of 175 km from the city of Severamosk at a depth of 108 meters. The sinking of the Kursk was the first great catastrophe under Vladimir Putin.
Source: ΑΜΠΕ – skai.gr
