Russian submarines on a friendly mission?

Two Russian attack submarines have been cruising in the Atlantic off the East Coast of the United States, a senior defense official said Wednesday.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said their presence is not causing alarms to go off.
"So long as they are operating in international waters, as, frankly, we do around the world, and are behaving in a responsible way, they are certainly free to do so, and it doesn't cause any alarm within this building," he said.
It has been years since Russia operated near the U.S. seaboard, thousands of miles from home ports.
"What's interesting is, they haven't been able to do this in some time, and now they are. It indicates a return to their ability to do this," the senior defense official said.
He viewed the patrol as an example of Russia showing the United States and the world its expeditionary forces, part of a continuing trend. He said the Russians have recently been a partner in anti-piracy operations around the world. And last year the Russian Navy conducted a "tour around the world," pulling into ports throughout Latin America.
In December, a Russian spokesman said that tour demonstrated "Russia's ability to fly its naval flag and ensure protection of its national interests in the world theater."
The Akula-class nuclear-powered submarines, which are normally equipped with surface-loaded cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles, have stayed in international waters, the source said. These are not the class of submarines that can launch intercontinental nuclear missiles.
The U.S. Navy has the capability to locate, identify and track submarine activity through satellites, ships, aircraft and classified systems.
"NORAD and U.S. Northern Command are aware of Russian submarine activity off the East Coast operating in international waters. We have been monitoring them during transit and recognize the right of all nations to exercise freedom of navigation in international waters according to international law," said Lt. Desmond James of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
A Russian military spokesman said at a news conference in Moscow that the submarines' activities were "part of the normal process."
Defense officials told The New York Times that one of the Russian submarines was in international waters Tuesday about 200 miles off the coast of the United States. The location of the second was unclear.
U.S. officials downplayed the significance of the submarines operating off the U.S. coast.
"There is no need to overreact," the senior defense official said.
"This is not an issue of concern. It is all consistent with the internationally-recognized principle of freedom of navigation. As long as the vessels do not cross into territorial waters, they are free to navigate any open waters," another official said.
Officials have said this is the naval equivalent to Russian bomber missions close to U.S. and other countries' borders.
"It is Russia again trying to assert its influence and trying to show they have a relevant military," a third defense official said.

Bad data entry led to sub deaths

The deadly release of fire suppression gas in a Russian sub this month was caused by a crew member entering wrong data into a temperature sensor, sources say.
Twenty people died Nov. 8 aboard the Nerpa when its fire suppression system was accidentally activated, sending Freon into its living quarters and suffocating the victims while the nuclear submarine was in the Sea of Japan.
The Russian business daily Kommersant, quoting unnamed sources, reported Monday that the incident was triggered when the crew member's faulty data entry caused temperatures to rise quickly, triggering the fire safety system, RIA Novosti said.
Some former Russian navy officers, however, disputed that report as unlikely, telling Kommersant it isn't possible for a single crew member to activate the system because it is protected by several layers of authorizations.
A spokesman for Russia's prosecutor general's office said last week investigators had determined one crew member was responsible for the accident, saying he had, "without permission or any particular reason," activated the fire system, RIA Novosti reported.

Fire on Russian nuclear submarine kills at least 20

At least 20 sailors and shipyard workers have died following a fire on a Russian nuclear-powered submarine which was undergoing sea trials. A further 21 were injured when a fire extinguishing system in the bow of the vessel failed, and they have been ferried ashore by support vessels.
The submarine has been ordered to suspend trials and return immediately to port in Russia's far-eastern Primorye territory.

The name and class of the vessel, and its location when fire broke out, have not been released. But it was assisted by the Russian destroyer Admiral Tributs,which is normally based at Vladivostok, Russia's main Far Eastern naval port on the Sea of Japan.

The fire broke out in the nose of the vessel and its nuclear reactor, situated in the stern, was not affected by the fire, said Russian Pacific Fleet spokesman Captain Igor Dygalo. There were no radiation leaks, he added.

"I declare with full responsibility that the reactor compartment on the nuclear-powered submarine is working normally and the radiation background is normal," he said.Of the 208 people on board when the fire broke out, 81 were servicemen.

The Admiral Tributs took some of the injured back to port.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev was last night being kept abreast of developments, and Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Kolmakov and Navy Commander-in- Chief Vladimir Vysotsky were flying to the scene.

Russia's worst submarine disaster was the sinking of the Kursk,which went down in the Barents Sea in August 2000with the deaths of all 118 people aboard. The submarine, which was the most sophisticated nuclear-powered in the Russian fleet, was swept by a fierce fire after one of its torpedoes exploded. Temperatures would have reached 8,000C. Looking at the twisted wreckage which had been raised from the sea bed, Russian Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov described what happened in the affected compartments as "hell".
The submarine was found 108 metres down the day after losing contact with Russia's Northern Fleet Command, and survivors were heard knocking on the hull. Three days later, unofficial reports claimed the knocking had ceased. Ten days after the explosion, Norwegian divers found the hull flooded and the Russian Navy declared the crew dead.
Efforts to rescue survivors would have been futile, Mr Ustinov said. They had died of carbon monoxide poisoning or would have drowned as water seeped into the damaged hull, filling the vessel within hours of the explosion.

Relatives of the dead crewmen protested after Mr Ustinov's two-year inquiry found that no-one was directly to blame for the accident, and claimed the authorities had tried to silence them.
The inquiry ruled that a fuel leak in a faulty torpedo caused the disaster, but that because no-one could have forseen the accident, naval commanders could not be prosecuted for the loss of the ship or the death of its crew.