Customer Reviews

Kursk: Russia's Lost Pride

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(Before I begin, I'd like to point out that this book is only marginally different from Truscott's other masterpiece, "Kursk: Russia's Worst Submarine Disaster and Its Cover-up," so I'm giving it the same review)

As man with military experience who holds both UK and Australian passports, one who speaks Russian fluently and has lived many years there, I feel I can draw on my personal experience and offer a more objective appraisal of this publication.

I was introduced to this little book by a dear Russian friend of mine in London, who is a former submariner. He revels as much as he tires in reading the perspectives of "Russia Experts" in Britain. Like the tour guides in Windsor castle who grow weary of the an oft-repeated tourist question "why did they build it so close to the airport," the Russian community in London is unfortunately now used to such pious and ill-informed questions as "do you have refrigerators in your country?" and the defining "is there any free press in Russia?".

As a Briton, I am embarrassed that my fellow countrymen continue to hold such antiquated and pompous mid-sets. Dr. Truscott may have interviewed nuclear submarine commanders, but he will never understand the burden of command and the responsibility of bringing your men home alive to loved ones. I can't say I was ever a "Foreign Affairs and Defence spokesperson in the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Security Committee," but I do know what war is beyond academic journals and books by armchair admirals. These books are dime a dozen. There are no new perspectives here or any attempt to get past the massive stumbling block of anti-Russian attitudes common in Britain. I found nothing in the 224 pages to distinguish it from the slanted coverage of the tragedy I watched on the BBC in August-September 2000.

As an Australian, I see in Truscott's writing the kind of stereotypical elitist "Pom" attitudes that have driven many Australians to embrace the idea of a republic, cutting off all symbolic ties to a country that largely sees us as whimsical and uncouth "colonials." If that can be the mind-set to other English speaking people in the former British empire, it is hardly surprising that Russians come off as barely human.

Truscott asserts that the "West" offered to help Russia. What I would like to ask, is what exactly is the "West"? There is no such monolithic bloc that can make multilateral decisions in the way Mr. Truscott believes. Many economists equate the term "Western" with material living standards. From that perspective then, to Australian eyes, Britain is poverty-stricken, dilapidated and in chronic decline, certainly not a present-day shining example of the "West." If "Western" means a respect for the inheritance of the Age of Reason, learning, and respect for arts and sciences, it would seem Russian children who are interested in Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mozart, and Robbie Burns would have a hard time getting along with non-Western British children who know only about David Beckham, Football and Robbie Williams.

And, what about the truth of the Kursk? Was there some sinister cover-up by KGB agents drowning in vodka of the kind Frederick Forsythe might have written about? No. There is no mystery, and I doubt there is any intrigue. It was a tragedy in which 118 predominantly young sailors died. If there is anything sinister, it is the idea that a man with a "doctorate from Oxford University" doesn't have enough moral integrity to understand it is wrong to make money off the memory of 118 hard-working sailors and the heartbreak of their loved ones, especially when it is done through such nakedly bigoted lenses.

Dr Peter Truscott has written the best book on the Kursk disaster. He has obviously interviewed all the key players, including the rescuers and relatives of the 118 crew tragically lost at sea. He brings to bear ten years or so of experience as a Russian expert, and a doctorate in modern history from Oxford University. This book not only describes the human tragedy of the disaster, both for the crew and their families, but goes into the political background of the whole affair. Truscott explains that from President Putin down, the Russians were more concerned in protecting their military secrets than the lives of their submariners. He shows how old Soviet mind-sets still reign in Moscow. Truscott also debunks the theory that the crew lives for several days, and exposes the wilder conspiracy theories surrounding the disaster- which the Russians sought to encourage. In fact, as the scientific and eye-witness statements from relatives indicate, all the crew were dead by the end of the first day of the crisis. This was supported by forensic evidence and the Russian governments own report into the diasaster- which led to the sackings of a number of the top brass in the Navy. The book also shows why the survivors in the stern of the sub couldn't make it out. But the story goes much wider, showing how Putin later cracked-down on the independent media which criticised him so heavily over the Kursk, bringing the press under the Kremlin's sway.
There is not a better book on the tragic Kursk disaster and its political fall-out, and this account is certainly the last word on this sorry episode in Russian history.