Foreign Funds for Sunken Russian Sub

“Russia Ends Search for Sub Survivors” (Aug. 22) reported that “Russian officials also said they would seek foreign funds to help raise the mangled 500-foot Oscar II-class sub, which went down during Northern Fleet maneuvers with some of the navy’s most advanced equipment on board.”

That might be a statement of truth and reality, but it seems analogous to a fabled Chinese beggar begging with a pan made of gold. Come to think of it, a country which had the funds to build such a sub with its navy’s most advanced equipment just five years ago should not seek foreign funds to raise it from the bottom of the sea.

If the U.S. happens to be one of the countries the Russians are appealing to for help, Washington can perhaps suggest that they sell the sub to our Smithsonian Institution and leave the raising of it to us.

GEORGE P. CHU

San Gabriel

*

* The most tragic aspect of the Russian submarine disaster is one not yet talked about. Because the majority of Russian families live in one- or two-room apartments and have little space or money to spend, most couples opt for only one child. Losing that child deprives them of lineage--not just the absence of sharing and the comfort of an only child throughout the parents’ lives but of grandchildren and future generations.

As a mother, a grandmother and one who has been involved in Russia since 1982, I feel the sadness, anger and despair of the Russian parents. They have lost much more than their sons.

BARBARA DEKOVNER-

MAYER HARRIS

Encino