Product Description

In the worst peacetime disaster experienced by the Russian Navy, on 12 August 2000 the state-of-the-art nuclear-powered Kursk submarine sank with the loss of 118 officers and crew. The sinking was a humanitarian, environmental, and military catastrophe for Russia, and a powerful political reversal for President Putin But what really happened? Peter Truscott, former Foreign Affairs and Defence spokesperson in the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Security Committee, aims to provide the answers. An expert on Russia, with a modern history doctorate from Oxford University, Truscott has met President Mikhail Gorbachev, three Russian Prime Ministers, two parliamentary Speakers and the leaders of all Russia's political parties over the past decade. For this book, the author has also interviewed relatives of the crew; Russian, British and American nuclear submarine commanders; international torpedo experts; politicans; diplomats; British and Norwegian rescue teams and their leaders; submariners; seismologists and members of the defence and intelligence communities This work vividly re-creates the terrible final hours of the crew as they waited in vain for rescue at the bottom

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #441120 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
The Base: In Search of the Terror Network that shook the World

About the Author
Dr Peter Truscott was MEP for Hertfordshire between 1994 and 1999 and is now an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research. An independent policy analyst and broadcaster specialising in Russian, defence and security matters, he is also the author of RUSSIA FIRST (1997).