“We tried to lower this hype on the brakes, but strange people continued to talk about it” - Putin in negotiations with Clinton about Kursk

On the website of the digital library of Bill Clinton, transcripts of telephone and personal conversations of the US President with Vladimir Putin are published. Medusa drew attention to the documents.

The published documents were dated in 1999-2001, earlier most of them had a “secret” vulture. According to one of the transcripts, on September 6, 2000, during a meeting in New York in the presidential room of the Waldorf Astoria hotel, Putin and Clinton discussed the death of the Kursk submarine. The conversation took place almost a month after the tragedy.

According to the transcript , Clinton expressed his condolences to Putin in connection with what “through which he had to go due to the death of the submarine,” and the Russian leader talked about his ratings:

Clinton: I regret everything that you had to go through because of the death of Kursk. When something happens, people around the world represent themselves in the place of victims and their loved ones, but I represented myself in your place. You probably had to face many criticism. It always happens. After Oklahom-City, many asked if the building was protected well and whether we were letting terrorists into the country. So with my heart I was with people at the bottom of the sea, and with everyone else too.

Putin: I had no good choice. I was trapped between bad and worst options. I was told that if I immediately lowered a small submarine there and at least tried to save the guys, my ratings would have grown up. You cannot allow to do something like this for the sake of PR. It is necessary to give priority to the real salvation of people. I appreciate your sincere support. Oddly enough, subsequent surveys showed that this incident did not affect my position. But I am very afraid that something similar can repeat myself.

Clinton: Now we are working in a different environment. If the building explodes in Moscow, it seems to be happening with our relatives. Or if people in Mozambique are forced to climb into trees to escape from flood ... In many ways, this is good. It reminds us that others are also people. After that, it is more difficult to hate. But sometimes it can be difficult for a leader to act correctly because of all these strong sensations.

Putin: We felt powerless during this disaster. Now everything looks so that the entire crew died within 60 or 90 seconds. We could not tell relatives, but in the case there was a hole in the size of about two meters, through which the first three submarine compartments flooded. I don't even know how we can pull out the bodies. There are a lot of cod in these waters - the flesh on the bones may not remain. We tried to lower all this hype on the brakes, but some people are strange, and they simply continued to nourish it. This is just a fact of life.

Note, 2 days after Clinton’s meeting, Putin gave an interview to American TV presenter Larry King. Answering the question of what happened to Kursk, Putin said with a smile: "She drowned."

Recall that the Kursk atomic submarine sank on August 12, 2000 during the exercises in the Barents Sea. As a result, all 118 people on board were killed. The authorities officially announced the death of the Kursk sailors only on August 22.