Nikitin

[Dr_Woland]

Consider the Nikitin case. Nikitin was a senior Russian nuclear sub commander, who was horrified that his reports about the appallingly dangerous condition of Russian nuclear submarines in the Arctic was ignored - so he took his story to the West. His reward has been to be locked-up in Russia by both the Yeltsin and Putin administrations.

When Putin came to power, he was asked, by Human Rights campaigners, what he planned to do about the Nikitin case. He said he would have Nikitin locked-up for a very long time. Now, remember, Nikitin has never had a trial, and never been found guilty of anything. Putin called him "a traitor".

Suddenly, Putin is on TV, talking about the terribly dangerous condition of Russia's nuclear submarines.

If this arrogant idiot had listened to his experts like Nikitin instead of locking them up because he didn't like what he heard, the Kursk tragedy might have been avoided.

Instead, you have the President of Russia hypocritically saying on TV exactly what the "traitor" Nikitin tried to tell the world TWO YEARS AGO, and is STILL locked-up for doing so.

Dr W.

[Wendist]

Hello Dr_woland

Somehow I am more saddened than surprised by what you have to tell. The information that commander Aleksander Nikitin gave to the norwegian environmental group Bellona was very important in giving a correct picture of pollution levels(especially radioactiv) in the Arctic Sea.

When news reached the west about his imprisonment it caused great concern. Both the norwegian and the canadian government approached the russian government on several occasions to protest. Their argument was(and still is) that such a serious problem, concerning every country around the Arctic Sea, should not be treated by Russia as an internal affair.

The last thing I heard, before your post, was that on December 29 1999 a court in Saint Petersburg found commander Nikitin not guilty of high treason and therefor I was under the impression that he was a free man.

Once again it appears to me that when ever something goes even the slightest wrong russian officials immediatly go into"P and P mode"(Pride and Paranoia) and stops thinking rationally.

What Cmdr. Nikitin tried to do was to help his Russia deal with one of its biggest problems of today, pollution. In my book that makes him a patriot not a traitor.

Regards Thomas

[This message has been edited by Wendist (edited 26 August 2000).]

[Dr_Woland]

Hi Thomas

I share your disappointment about this. I'm sorry to say that the case against Nikitin has been re-opened, and his currently under house arrrest.

He has petitioned to leave the country, a request that has been refused. It seems that the actions now being taken against him, after he was once freed, are coming directly from the Kremlin itself.

Dr W.