C00779597
 *** Document 5 of 25 for FBS5 ***
 DOCN U3454314
 FBIS FBIS 073AUG17
 CLAS UNCLAS.
 SUBJ RUSSIA: TAKE 1 OF 2--Kursk May Have Been Attacked by  Two
 Foreign Submarines,' Says Moscow Paper
 SERI CENJi08170214 Moscow Moskovskiy Komsomolets in Russian 18 Aug BA
 TEXT P 1
 [Article by Yuriy Kochergtn, Aleksandr Morozov, and Viktor
 Sokfrkos  "Last Battle in Barents Sea?  Squadron Bends But Does Not
 Yield..."]
 [FBIS Translated Text] As of today there are more than enough
 theories about the disaster to the multi role nuclear submarine
 Kurski  from a collision with a World War II mine to poor crew
 training.  The former is put forward by official Russian
 representatives, the latter by Americans.  People have even gone so
 far as to say that the submarine might have been attacked by...a
 UFO!
 Moskovskly Komsomolets is publishing another theory which, let
 us be frank, is equally fantastic.  At least three sources agree on
 the sequence of events discussed below.  Thus, in ht   ranking
 circles it was hinted to us, under  trict secrecy, that the
 foreignlsubmarines ndesunktbyyhaa tpowerfulsMS-448 torpedo. by...two
 This information, let us s   at once, is absolute)     without any
 documentary confirmation and could be interpreted as just the usual
 rumors.  All the same, we felt we had no right to let it pass
 unnoticed.
 Spotting the emergence of a large squadron from the
 Severomorsk base was not so very difficult, and as a consequence
 two unidentified submarines were hanging around to the region of
 the large-scale Northern Fleet exercises from the very first day of
 the maneuvers.  That Is the established procedure:  NATO submarines
 have been sitting right on the tall of Russian submarines on patrol
 duty ever since Cold War times.  The  also track all more or less
 significant naval exercises, admittedly from a safe distance.  The
 Russian seamen knew very well that there were now two Los
 Angeles-class US submarines close by.  They say that at first they
 did not got in the way of the progress of the exercises at all --
 they kept their distance:  After all, the Russian fleet was
 carrying out Iive missile launches at training targets.
 Then, it is conjectured, the situation changed:  The foreign
 submarines came practically right up to our squadron.  In general,
 according to alI the written and unwritten rules, during exercises
 of this kind any unidentified target that does not respond to
 signals and questioning is destroyed -- that is a security
 requirement.
 The forces of the Northern Fleet, still according to conjecture,
 made several threatening maneuvers to drive the persistent
 submarines further away from the area of the exercises.  At first
 they did not venture to take extreme measures.  Not for the time
 being.
 It is not ruled out that on the approach to Severomorsk the
 nuclear submarine Kursk was ordered to drive away the uninvited
 guests.  The submarine went onto an attack course.
 Let us turn to foreign sources.  "Two US submarines and the
 surface reconnaissance ship the Loyal were observing the maneuvers
 involving the Kursk," a US Intel li ante spokesman announced in an
 official press statement.  "Contact with the Kursk was lost soon
 after the US tracking ships Intercepted a twice-repeated request
 from on board the Kursk to fire two torpedoes.  After that there
 was a big explosion, recorded by US reconnaissance ships."
 Could it be that the commanding officer of the Kursk, Captain
 First Rank Gemmadty Lyachin, had one of the enemy boats in his
 sights (to all appearances, he did not detect the second)?  Who
 knows?  Maybe a request to fire torpedoes was submitted to the
 command.  It seems that he received the command, only not to fire
 for effect, but as a warning -- a double shot across the bow and
 stern of the enemy submarine to show that they were not
 joking.  Let us remind you that all this is only at the level of
 APPROVED FOR RELEASE
 BATE-JUL2012
 C00779597
 con ecture.  According to this scenario, the enemy fixed the launch
 andjfired a return salvo which the Kursk managed to dodge with an
 anti torpedo maneuver.  Our submarine soared up from a depth of 80
 meters to 30 and prepared to surface -- the raised antennas on the
 sail indicate this.  And then the most unexpected thing may have
 happened:  The Kursk was hit during the countermove by a torpedo
 from the second submarine (the one it had not noticed).  This time
 the Russian submarine did not manage to dodge...
 An interesting fact:  A few days after this, as one of our
 sources informed us, a certain Western special service carried out
 satellite photography of the Kursk lying on the bottom of the
 Barents Sea.  The conclusion of the foreign experts was this:  The
 nature of the damee to the boat and its position on the sea bed
 are consistent with...a for edo hit In close fighting by a ship at
 a distance of 20-25 cables  about 4,500 meters).
 However, if you. believe all of this and think that the foreign
 experts correctly analyzed the situation that led to the sinkin  of
 the Kursk, it remains unclear why our submarine did not report the
 underwater battle by radio.
 . The other day Putin and Clinton had an unplanned 25-minute
 telephone conversation the details of which are being kept secret.
 P.S. At the Navy Main Staff press service we were informed that
 among the official theories that exist at present, only the
 hypotheses of a collision between the Russian submarine and a
 foreign submarine is being considered.  The theory about damage to
 the hull of the nuclear submarine Kursk by a live torpedo or
 (MORE)
 17 AUG 1549z FBIS
 NNNN NNNN
 ELST   108 - NONCRITICAL (TEXT.L):
 NOT ENOUGH CHARACTERS FOR LINE (MIN-CHARS)
 EFLG NONCRITICALERROR
 ===EOD===