CNS Reports

View the video of Tomchin's interview in Windows Streaming Video ASF format. (Spoken Russian with Norwegian subtitles) Read the English transcript

On 4 April 2001, in an interview on Norway's TV-2, Russian Duma Deputy Grigoriy Tomchin said that the Kursk was carrying nuclear weapons.[1]  A deputy chair of the Russian Property Committee, Tomchin has been a member of the Russian government commission investigating the Kursk accident since 19 December 2000, when nine Duma members were added to the commission.[2] TV-2 also reported that Harald Ramfjord, a member of Global Tool Management who has been working on the project to raise the Kursk, said he has seen secret Russian documents confirming the presence of two cruise missiles with nuclear warheads on board the vessel.[3] The Russian Navy immediately denied that there were nuclear weapons on the Kursk.[4]  

On 5 April Tomchin denied having stated that there were nuclear weapons on the Kursk, calling the TV-2 report a "provocation," and saying that the reporter had misrepresented his statements.[5] In response, TV-2 made a video of Tomchin's interview available (Windows Streaming Video ASF format) on its website. Tomchin clearly states that there were nuclear weapons on the Kursk, although he added that there is no danger from the weapons, just as there is no danger from weapons aboard the sunken US submarines Thresher and Scorpion.  In the interview, he declined to answer a question regarding the type of weapons the Kursk had on board.[1]  Sources in the State Duma suggested on 5 April that the make-up of the Kursk investigative commission might be changed to eliminate current members who make "irresponsible and untrue" remarks regarding the Kursk.[7]

The Kursk, a Russian Project 949A Antey-class [NATO name 'Oscar II'] nuclear-powered guided missile submarine (SSGN), carried 24 P-700 Granit [SS-N-19, NATO name 'Shipwreck'] antiship cruise missiles.  The Granit missile can have either a 750kg high explosive or 500kt nuclear warhead. Antey-class submarines can also carry nuclear-capable torpedoes and sea-launched cruise missiles which can be launched from torpedo tubes.  However, all tactical nuclear weapons were supposed to have been removed from Russian warships in 1992 following a 5 October 1991 declaration by Mikhail Gorbachev.  The Kursk was launched in 1994, and entered into service on 20 January 1995.[8] It is unlikely that it ever carried nuclear weapons.  Reintroduction of tactical nuclear weapons would be politically risky and difficult to hide:  traffic between tactical nuclear warhead storage facilities and the naval base would likely be visible to foreign intelligence services. 

Sources:

[1] "Russisk atom-dementi slår sprekker," TV-2 (Norway), http://www.tv2.no/nyheter/nyheter.jhtml?nyhetsld=459647.

[2] "Government Commission On Kursk Disaster Expanded," RIA Oreanda, 19 December 2000;  in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, http://web.lexis-nexis.com. 

[3] "Russerne nekter kategorisk," TV-2 (Norway), http://www.tv2.no/nyheter/nyheter.jhtml?nyhetsld=459508.

[4] "Norwegian Kursk report dismissed by experts," Agence France Presse, 4 April 2001; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, http://web.lexis-nexis.com. 

[5] "VMF oprovergayet slukhi, rasprostranyeyemyye zapadnymi SMI," Strana.ru, http://www.strana.ru.

[6] "Deputat Gosdumy Grigoriy Tomchin nazval 'provokatsiyey' pripisannoye emu norvezhskoy telekompaniyey o yakoby nalichii yadernogo oruzhiya na bortu 'Kurska,'" RIA Novosti, 5 April 2001; in Integrum Techno, http://www.integrum.ru.

[7] "Iz komissii po Kursku uberut bezotvetstvennykh," Strana.ru, http://www.strana.ru.

[8] A.D. Baker III, Combat Fleets of the World 2000-2001 (Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 2000).{Entered 4/5/2001 CC}

Resources on Russian Nuclear Submarines