RUSSIA/BARENTS SEA: FUNERAL OF SUBMARINER DMITRY KOLESNIKOV RECOVERED RECENTLY FROM WRECK OF THE KURSK HELD IN ST. PETERSBURG

Record ID: 549628

  • Title: RUSSIA/BARENTS SEA: FUNERAL OF SUBMARINER DMITRY KOLESNIKOV RECOVERED RECENTLY FROM WRECK OF THE KURSK HELD IN ST. PETERSBURG
  • Date: 2nd November 2000
  • Summary: ST.PETERSBURG , RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 2, 2000) (REUTERS) MV/SV: COFFIN WITH DIMTRY KOLESNIKOV'S BODY ON PODIUM, MOURNERS PASSING BY COFFIN (2 SHOTS) SV: KOLESNIKOV'S MOTHER AND WIDOW, OLGA BY COFFIN SCU: PHOTO OF DMITRY KOLESNIKOV SV: KOLESNIKOV'S PARENTS AND WIDOW OLGA RECEIVING CONDOLENCES FROM HEAD OF THE NORTHERN FLEET ADMIRAL VYACHESLAV POPOV CU: NAVY PEAKED CAP ON COFFIN SV: NAVAL OFFICERS PTTING FLOWERS ON COFFIN CU: FRAMED COPY OF LETTER FOUND ON KOLESNIKOV'S BODY READING: "12.08.2000, time 15:45. We should not fall in despair. It's dark out here and I'm writing to the touch. It seems we have no chance, 10-20 percent. We hope that someone will read this. Here is the list of crew members that are here in the 9th compartment and will try to get out. Best regards to all. No need to fall into despair." VARIOUS: NAVY OFFICERS CARRYING WREATHS AND PORTRAIT OF DMITRY KOLESNIKOV/ RELATIVES AND FRIENDS OF DMITRY KOLESNIKOV NEAR COFFIN AT CEMETERY/ OFFICERS CARRYING COFFIN (4 SHOTS) SV: MAYOR OF ST.PETERSBURG VLADIMIR YAKOVLEV SPEAKING VARIOUS: PEOPLE AT FUNERAL, COFFIN (3 SHOTS) SV: OFFICERS HANDING KOLESNIKOV'S FATHER HIS SON'S NAVY CAP, MOTHER CRYING MV/SV: COFFIN LOWERED INTO GRAVE, OFFICER WITH FLOWERS (3 SHOTS) SV: PRIEST BLESSING THE GRAVE MV: NAVY OFFICERS MARCHING WITH NAVY FLAG WIDE OF OFFICERS THROWING SOIL ONTO COFFIN
  • Embargoed: 17th November 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA/BARENTS SEA
  • City:
  • Country: Russian Federation At Sea
  • Topics: Accidents,Defence / Military,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAB9O8XQVB0SKOCU1JZ9AA4K82A
  • Story Text: Hundreds of people have gathered in St.Petersburg to pay their last respects to Dmitry Kolesnikov, one of the 12 sailors recovered from the Kursk submarine at the bottom of the Barents Sea.
    Dmitry Kolesnikov has been finally put to rest at a cemetery in St.Petersburg.
    On Thursday (November 2) morning the body of Dmitry Kolesnikov was placed in St. Petersburg's historical Admiralty building. Hundreds of mourners filed past laying flowers and wreaths at the coffin. Grieving parents, Kolesnikov's widow Olga and his brother were sitting silently in the first row, receiving condolences from navy officials.
    By the coffin - the framed copy of a letter found on Dmitry's body, which read:
    "12.08.2000, time 15:45. We should not fall in despair. It's dark out here and I'm writing to the touch. It seems we have no chance, 10-20 percent. We hope that someone will read this. Here is the list of crew members that are here in the 9th compartment and will try to get out. Best regards to all. No need to fall into despair."
    This short note provided the world with the most information about the tragic story of the crew buried alive at the bottom of the Barents Sea last August.
    Kolesnikov was buried later in the afternoon in a special part of a local cemetery called Heroes' Way to a salute of rifle shots fired in the air and a small parade of navy officers.
    The funeral was attended by the city mayor Vladimir Yakovlev, Commander of the Northern Fleet Vyacheslav Popov and other military officials.
    Kolesnikov's parents have received contradictory information from the Russian government and still do not know the cause of Dmitry's death.
    Lieutenant-Captain Kolesnikov, a resident of St.Petersburg, was one of the first four Russian sailors, from a crew of 118, whose body was recovered by a joint Norwegian-Russian rescue team.
    His death note forced the government and navy to modify previous statements that nearly all of the crew died instantaneously.
    The Kursk tragedy touched the entire nation and set off a national debate over the military's right to keep a cloak of secrecy over events, the amount or lack of government financing to the military, and the plight of the nation's military servicemen.
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