Russia Celebrates Safe Return of Trapped Submarine Crew

STEVEN LEE MYERS - New York Times: "Russia today celebrated the rescue of a small submarine and its seven crew members who had been trapped for three days more than 600 feet below the Pacific Ocean, but the happy ending was tinged by embarrassment and recriminations over the state of the country's military.

The vessel's crew - six sailors and a civilian involved in its construction - returned to land on Kamchatka in Russia's Far East, appearing wan but relieved and otherwise unhurt, as Russian officials expressed gratitude for the foreign help that freed the submarine.

An unmanned British submersible - accompanied on the surface by American Navy divers and a doctor - managed this afternoon to cut the submarine free from fishing nets and cables that had ensnared it 76 hours earlier. The operation was a five-hour race against time, as the Russians aboard huddled in darkness and cold, with their supply of oxygen dwindling ominously.

They had turned off their lights and communicated sparingly in order to conserve electricity; they moved as little as possible to conserve oxygen and strength and wrapped themselves in thermal suits to protect against temperatures that dropped to 40 degrees.

"Their self-possession allowed them to conserve the air and wait for the rescue operation," Rear Adm. Vladimir V. Pepelyayev, deputy chief of staff of the Russian Navy, said in televised remarks.

They also emerged remarkably unshaken after their ordeal. The submarine's commander, Capt. Lieutenant Vyacheslav Milashevsky, 25, debarked in port near Kamchatka's capital with a crisp salute and then led the others down the gangplank to a scrum of officials and cameras on shore.

"Yes, without doubt," he said in televised remarks, when asked if he had believed they would be saved.

Russia's defense minister, Sergei B. Ivanov, overseeing what could have become another tragedy for the country's beleaguered armed forces, reacted jubilantly, raising and shaking his fists in the air as the submarine surfaced and its crew emerged, having opened the hatch and clambered out on their own.

"The men showed moderation, courage, endurance and strength of will," Mr. Ivanov said on state television. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our Pacific Fleet sailors above all and all those who extended a hand of friendship to us."

The Foreign Ministry also released a statement praising the "coordinated actions of the Russian, British and American military." The statement expressed "profound gratitude" to Britain, the United States and Japan, which also dispatched a rescue team, though it did not arrive in time to participate.

The outcome - and the international cooperation involved in it - starkly contrasted Russia's response five years ago this month when the nuclear submarine Kursk exploded and sank in the Barents Sea; all 118 men aboard eventually died.

In that case Russia's commanders obfuscated, dismissed offers of assistance and even accused NATO submarines of having caused the disaster. A handful of sailors survived the initial blast and then suffocated as Russian commanders on the surface dithered.

"The lessons of the Kursk have been learned and learned very well," Britain's defense attaché, Air Commodore Wils Metcalfe, said in an interview. "When lives are at stake, you've got to get on with it."

Despite the rescue, though, some lawmakers in Russia questioned what lessons the government had learned, criticizing the military's conduct and preparedness to handle a crisis.

"Alas, we have failed to do without assistance from foreigners once again," Vyacheslav A. Popov, a former commander of the Northern Fleet who is now a member of the upper house of parliament, told the Interfax news agency. "Five years have passed since the Kursk tragedy, but we still have no means to raise a submersible trapped only 190 meters down."

Dmitry O. Rogozin, a leader of the Motherland Party in the lower house, called for a criminal investigation, suggesting that commanders were negligent for squandering recent increases in the military's budget. He called the episode an embarrassment "not only for the Navy, but for Russia too."

"It is an embarrassment for Russia because we see that our leaders can do nothing to save even a small submarine," he said in a telephone interview. He added, "We must find out, once and for all, how bad the shape of our navy is."

President Vladimir V. Putin, as throughout the crisis, said nothing publicly, perhaps reflecting the political sensitivities at home of having turned for help to countries that are often depicted here as rivals, if not enemies. The Kremlin did announce, however, that Mr. Putin had expressed gratitude for the assistance and had ordered Mr. Ivanov to investigate the circumstances of the submarine's predicament.

Much remained uncertain, including what exactly ensnared the small submarine, a 44-foot-long craft know as an AS-28 Priz, which itself is designed for undersea rescue.

According to officials and Russian news reports, the submarine had been conducting routine maintenance on an underwater surveillance system, a vestige of the cold-war cat-and-mouse espionage that took place beneath the seas. Kamchatka, a long remote peninsula on Russia's Far Eastern reaches, was a front line in that confrontation.

Despite the history of tension, the British and the Americans were able to dispatch help so quickly because a number of nations had formed a group to facilitate submarine rescues after the Kursk tragedy.

The group, called the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office, is based in Norfolk, Va. It conducted mock rescue drills off the coast of Italy in June, and Russia took part in the exercise. The group's goal is to send help to the scene of almost any submarine accident within 72 hours, and officials said its web site lit up quickly late last week with offers of equipment from countries like Japan, Italy and Australia.

Commodore Metcalfe said that British officials had offered assistance upon hearing of the accident on Friday morning in Moscow and that the Russians had immediately accepted.

The British submersible - known as a Scorpio 45 - is maintained by a civilian company on contract to the British Navy and is supposed to be ready to deploy within 12 hours. It had, fortuitously, been readied for a training exercise when the order came, shaving at least four hours off its response time, the commodore said.

Even so, after landing in Kamchatka on Saturday, the Russians were unable to unload much of the equipment. Only when the American C-5 arrived, carrying the Navy's own rescue vessel, as well as special loading equipment, could the British effort begin in earnest, Commodore Metcalfe said. He described it as evidence of the necessity of international cooperation in undersea rescue.

"I think it shows the incredibly high level of cooperation in anything doing with a submarine rescue," he said.

Once on the scene, the British vessel descended and found the Priz entangled in netting and cabling roughly 60 nautical miles offshore. The Scorpio's remote-controlled arms cut through at least five cables, some made of steel nearly half an inch thick, according to Admiral Pepelyayev. Once freed, the submarine floated quickly to the surface.

Admiral Viktor D. Fyodorov, commander of Russia's Pacific Fleet, praised the British equipment, expertise and professionalism. "We acknowledge this experience brought by sailors and rescue works from the British Royal Navy," he said. "It was their equipment that achieved this success."

Russia's Navy faced many questions, including why a second submersible like the Priz was not in operation and why an unmanned vessel like Britain's could not be quickly dispatched to help. "We did not use them because the nearest one was some four days of sailing away," Admiral Pepelyayev said in a telephone interview.

Such questions might, perhaps, be answered later. The seven men were being examined in a hospital for symptoms of exposure and hypothermia, but they were not reported to be seriously ill. The relief for Russia's officials - not to mention the families of those trapped aboard -was palpable.

Admiral Fyodorov praised the men aboard the Priz as "our heroes." Lieutenant Milashevsky's wife, Yelena, reacted elatedly.

"I danced," she said, speaking briefly on state television and then rushing off to answer a phone ringing in her home."