RUSSIA: RUSSIANS IN MURMANSK ADD THEIR VOICE TO GROWING CRITICISM OF LEADER VLADIMIR PUTIN'S HANDLING OF KURSK SUBMARINE TRAGEDY

Record ID: 648511

  • Title: RUSSIA: RUSSIANS IN MURMANSK ADD THEIR VOICE TO GROWING CRITICISM OF LEADER VLADIMIR PUTIN'S HANDLING OF KURSK SUBMARINE TRAGEDY
  • Date: 20th August 2000
  • Summary: MURMANSK, RUSSIA (AUGUST 20, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV'S/GV: MURMANSK PORT /SHIPS IN PORT / MURMANSK CENTRE (3 SHOTS) 0.18 2. MV/LV: PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH CENTRE (2 SHOTS) 0.30 3. ZOOM IN: NAVY MONUMENT 0.37 4. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALEXANDER, RETIRED WORKER SAYING: "I think his biggest tragedy, to put it in historical terms, is that he isn't for the reds and he isn't for the whites and for that reason he won't sit on one side." 0.47 5. SLV: LENIN MONUMENT 0.52 6. SV: PEOPLE GETTING OFF BUS 1.02 7. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FYODOR, FISHERMAN SAYING: "He should have returned to Moscow, to his office and work. That's my opinion." 1.12 8. SCU: FOOD IN SHOPPING BASKET 1.15 9. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian): LARISSA, HOUSEWIFE SAYING: "I don't think that he had to come to Murmansk, but he should have interrupted his vacation and taken some special actions. Of course, the submarine is a military object with secrecy, but I think people's lives are worth more than that." 1.30 10. WS: MURMANSK STREET / MURMANSK CENTRE CARS DRIVING PASSED 1.36 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th September 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MURMANSK, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA5BK2Q2VFAQUYHPVYHB0OEBXV5
  • Story Text: Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his silence on
    the Kursk submarine tragedy in emotional remarks to church
    leaders, but his words were too little and too late according
    to Russians in the port city of Murmansk, who add their voice
    to growing national criticism of their new leader for his
    handling of the national tragedy.



    Murmansk--the northern Russian port city just
    kilometres away from the sunk military submarine Kursk--has
    been at the centre of Russian public attention this week.

    Russians across the vast country have been watching the
    navy's attempts to pull up 118 sailors from their submarine at
    the bottom of the Barents Sea.

    Norwegian and British rescue squads have been working
    all day Sunday(August 20) in a last-ditch mission as time and
    oxygen supplies run short aboard the Kursk.

    But one person has not come to Murmansk--newly elected
    President Vladimir Putin, and Russians have noted this.

    During the first crucial days after the Kursk drifted to
    bottom, the popular national leader rested at an elite
    southern seaside resort at the other end of the nation.

    He returned to his Kremlin office only five days after
    the crash, and after a barrage of criticism from domestic and
    foreign press for his perceived indifference to the tragedy.

    The mood toward Putin has turned bitter in Murmansk,
    where nearly every citizen is somehow connected to the navy or
    the merchant marine business.

    A retired pensioner, Alexander, said that the crisis
    underlined Putin's refusal to take a stand on crucial issues.

    A fisherman Fyodor said Putin should have returned to
    his officer earlier.

    And housewife Larissa said that while she understood
    that Putin may have felt it necessary to protect military
    secrets around one of Russia's best attack submarines, Putin's
    government should have placed more value on the sailors'
    lives.
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