Sofia Dudko: “We knew that first there was a collision, and then torpedoing”
The ex-commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, in a large interview that he gave to RIA Novosti, said that the K-141 Kursk nuclear submarine was killed in a collision with a NATO submarine. According to the admiral, on August 12, 2000, SOS signals were recorded, which were not given by Kursk, a special mechanism was used, which is absent on Russian boats. Popov’s statement was commented on by Sofia Dudko, chairman of the Public Council of the Memory of Submariners of the Kursk APRK.
Photo: AP
— This is not news to us, we knew that first there was a collision, and then the torpedoing of the Kursk, – says Sofia Petrovna, whose son, senior assistant commander, captain of the 2nd rank Sergey Dudko, died on the Kursk on August 12, 2000. – Immediately after the death of the submarine, no one hid this.
As we were told, this collision was accidental, it’s no secret that several NATO submarines were watching the exercises of the Northern Fleet at that time. After the approach and collision, the commander of the American submarine apparently decided that Gennady Lyachin (captain of the Kursk – “MK”) is going to torpedo him, so he forestalled his actions by firing a torpedo at Kursk. We were told that the commander of the American nuclear-powered ship can make such decisions independently, without reporting to the Supreme Commander.
This version was then adhered to by the deputy commander of the Northern Fleet and one of the leaders of the exercises, Admiral Mikhail Motsak. And then there was a version-a fairy tale. America and I were friends then. It was impossible to allow a sharp deterioration in relations, and possibly a military conflict with the United States.
— What can they change? You can’t bring the guys back. Whoever wanted to know the truth knew it from the beginning. Who could not then voice the real reason for the death of the Kursk, I think that he will not return to this now.
— At the very beginning we had a lawyer Boris Kuznetsov. He made some efforts. Later he moved to America and published his second book, She Drowned. I have it, they brought it to me, but I read it with humor, because he took Vice Admiral Valery Ryazantsev as an expert, who all his life was jealous of the Northern Fleet of the Pacific, on which he himself served. In Kuznetsov’s second book, the Americans had nothing to do with it, their fault in the death of the Kursk, according to our former lawyer, is not. Allegedly, there were no American submarines in that area.
— The time has come that it is necessary to tell the truth already. Vyacheslav Alekseevich is an old man, he is very ill. Apparently, he thinks he can’t leave without telling the truth.
In 2005, a film directed by Jean-Michel Carre was shown on French television. In his painting “Kursk. Submarine in muddy water” the author claimed that the Russian nuclear-powered vessel was torpedoed by the American submarine Memphis. According to the director’s version, the exercises of the Northern Fleet were observed from two American submarines Memphis and Toledo. “Toledo” was going todangerous proximity under the cover of “Memphis”, which was “in the shadows”. At some point there was a collision of the nuclear-powered Kursk and Toledo. Allegedly, the opening of the pipe of the Kursk torpedo tube was heard. And to prevent the Kursk from firing at the Toledo, Memphis opened fire with a Mk-48 torpedo at the Russian submarine.
This version was not supported by the official investigation.