Radiation level near Kursk normal: Kasyanov

MOSCOW, AUG. 25. The level of radiation in the area where a nuclear submarine exploded and sank this month is normal and there is no cause for alarm, said the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, on Friday, according to a report.

Concern has been high that radiation could leak from the submarine Kursk, which sank on August 12, but officials in Russia and in neighboring Norway have not reported any increase.

``The background radiation condition is normal now and we have no anxiety,'' Mr. Kasyanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency while in Sarov, where he was visiting one of Russia's main nuclear research facilities.

``We are now investigating more than 10 versions of the Kursk catastrophe, but I lean to the position that the tragedy occurred as the result of a collision with a foreign submarine,'' said the Defence Minister, Mr. Igor Sergeyev, on Friday, according to Interfax.

The U.S. and Britain have denied having any vessels nearby during the exercises. Norwegian divers who went to the wreck said they did not get close enough to the bow to have seen signs of a collision. - AP

Caption:

A sequence, beginning top left to right, bottom left to right, of frames taken from Reuters Television shows a relative of a sailor aboard the Kursk submarine being injected by a medic with a sedative as she shouts at the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Illya Klebanov, and then collapsing, at the Vidyayevo naval base on August 18. Weeping relatives hurled abuse at a panel of officials as they waited for news of the crew trapped in their vessel at the bottom of the Barents sea.

- Reuters

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