Putin to Launch New Nuclear Submarine
President Vladimir V. Putin will visit a northern shipyard today to launch a nuclear submarine--a trip apparently intended to bolster the navy’s morale after the weekend demotions of several admirals.
Putin will go to Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk to inaugurate the Gepard, which means “cheetah.” Sevmash launched the Kursk, which sank in the Barents Sea last year, killing all 118 men aboard.
The head of the navy demoted Northern Fleet chief Adm. Vyacheslav Popov and several others over the weekend for poor organization of the maneuvers the Kursk was taking part in when it sank.
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