Russia's secret services have launched a probe into two Dagestanis who were aboard the Kursk nuclear submarine when it sank on August 12, media reports quoted Federal Security Service (FSB, ex-KGB) chief Nikolai Patrushev as saying Thursday.
The two men, a civilian and a military officer, were working for a Caspian Sea firm and were not members of the submarine crew, NTV private television quoted Patrushev as saying.
Mamed Gadzhiyev and Arnold Borisov were employed by Dazdiesel, a company that manufactured torpedoes for submarines, Interfax reported.
"We have been gathering intelligence on this subject since the very first day but we do not at the moment have any proof implicating them in the accident," NTV cited the FSB chief as saying.
Dagestan shares a border with the rebel republic of Chechnya, where Russian troops are waging a bloody war against separatist guerrillas who have threatened to launch a bombing campaign on Russian soil.
The FSB's role was not to develop its own version of events leading up to the Kursk tragedy, Interfax reported Patrushev as saying at a briefing at the Northern Fleet's base in Murmansk.
"It just helps obtain certain information that can either confirm or refute the existing versions," Patrushev added.
However, his comments mark the first time that Russia has even indirectly suggested that the Kursk may have been the victim of a terrorist strike.
Movladi Udugov, a Chechen official close to rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Khattab, claimed several days after the submarine accident, which cost 118 lives, that the Kursk had been sabotaged by a Dagestani member of the crew, Sirazhudin Ramazanov, on behalf of the Chechen rebels.
But Ramazanov's name did not appear on the list of the Kursk's crew members distributed on Wednesday's national day of mourning for the dead seamen.
Questioned by AFP, the FSB press service declined to comment on the possible Dagestani link.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a criminal probe into the Kursk tragedy Thursday following Russian President Vladimir Putin's vow in a nationwide broadcast to discover what caused it to sink to the bottom of the Barents Sea.
Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov noted that the most important thing was "to find out the reason for the accident," Interfax reported -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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