The fire safety system on new Russian nuclear-powered submarine malfunctioned on a test run in the Sea of Japan, spewing chemicals that killed at least 20 people and injured 21 others, officials said today.

Sailors in dress uniforms stood rigid on a ship deck today as wreaths were tossed into the sea to honour 118 of their comrades who perished five years ago when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank.

Russian sailors rescued with British help after three days trapped in a mini-submarine deep in the Pacific revealed today how they struggled with rapidly decreasing water and oxygen supplies while waiting anxiously in the darkness and cold.

SEVEN Russians were rescued yesterday after spending three days trapped in a submarine under the Pacific Ocean.

A British remote-controlled vehicle cut loose a Russian mini-submarine that had been snarled on undersea cables for three days deep in the Pacific, and it surfaced today with its crew safe.

An international effort is underway to rescue seven people trapped aboard a Russian mini-submarine off the Pacific coast.

THE submarine accident occurred almost exactly five years after the nuclear submarine Kursk sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea after explosions on board, killing all 118 seamen aboard in a painful blow to the Russian navy.

Russian news agencies have reported that Japan is to send four ships to help rescue seven Russian sailors trapped on a naval mini-submarine on the sea floor off the Pacific Coast.

Former Russian Nuclear Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov was arrested at the request of US officials who have demanded his extradition, a Swiss official said today.

RUSSIA’S navy chief said yesterday that one of the nation’s most powerful ships, the nuclear-powered Peter the Great missile cruiser, was in such dire condition that it could explode at “any moment”.

RUSSIA'S defence minister yesterday ordered a temporary halt to towing decommissioned nuclear submarines to scrapyards after a mothballed submarine sank, killing nine of the sailors on board.

Nine of the crew of an aged Russian nuclear submarine which sunk while being towed to a scrapyard in a gale in the Barents Sea died today.

A Russian nuclear-powered K-159 submarine sank in a fierce late summer storm in the Barents Sea today, killing at least two of the 10-member crew, the Defence Ministry said. No weapons were aboard the sub.

Faced with an uphill legal battle to win damages for victims of last autumn’s terrorist raid on a Moscow theatre, their lawyer has offered a cut price out-of-court deal

With the tragic fate of the Kursk still in our minds, we return in time to the days of the Cold War when another Russian submarine found itself in deep water over a nuclear reactor facing meltdown.

Attempts to save the crew of Russia’s Kursk nuclear submarine were doomed by mistakes and sloppiness, not least the failure of a top admiral to realise anything had gone wrong, a government report has revealed.

Russian military and civilian officials unveiled a bronze monument to the crew of the Kursk nuclear submarine in Moscow today, marking the second anniversary of the explosion that sank the vessel.

THE Russian government confirmed yesterday that leaked torpedo fuel and not a foreign submarine or a Second World War mine caused the explosions that destroyed the Kursk nuclear submarine.

The Russian government confirmed today that leaky torpedo fuel - and not a foreign submarine or a Second World War mine - caused the explosions that destroyed the Kursk nuclear submarine.

The Kursk nuclear submarine tragedy that killed 118 crewmen was caused by the explosion of fuel in one of its torpedoes, the Russian governmental commission investigating the accident has found.

A senior Russian admiral says 23 sailors in the Kursk may have suffered through three days of agony waiting in vain for a rescue that never came.

Three Russian admirals have been dismissed over the Kursk disaster.

Vladimir Putin has indicated the Kursk catastrophe might be blamed on poor naval preparation for military exercises.

Eleven Russian sailors who drowned in the Kursk nuclear submarine disaster were buried earlier today.

Severe damage to the Kursk nuclear submarine has thwarted efforts to remove its last six cruise missiles, so investigators must cut them out together with their silos, the Russian navy chief said today.

The sinking of the Kursk was not caused by a collision with a foreign submarine, the leading investigator into the disaster says.

Mysterious dents have been found on the wreck of the Kursk nuclear submarine.

Russian investigators have recovered two more bodies from the wreck of the Kursk nuclear submarine, bringing the total number of bodies retrieved from the vessel to 59.

Investigators examining the wreckage of the Kursk nuclear submarine have removed the bodies of 45 sailors since the vessel was brought to dock in northern Russia earlier this month.

Investigators today revealed the ‘‘hell’’ inside the nuclear submarine Kursk which sank in the Barents Sea with the loss of 118 lives.

Forensic experts are beginning to remove bodies from the wreck of the Kursk.

The Kursk has surfaced for the first time since it sank with the loss of all hands.

A giant barge has hauled the remains of the Kursk nuclear submarine to a dock.

The Kursk has passed the half-way point on its way to the surface of the Barents Sea.

An international team of divers is expected to raise the sunken Russian submarine Kursk later this week.

Divers working on the wreck of the Kursk have begun piercing the last of 26 holes in the vessel's hull.

Families of the 118 men killed when the submarine Kursk sank have gathered in the Russian port of Murmansk for a pilgrimage to the doomed boat's home base.

The operation to raise the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk is approaching the challenging phase of cutting the badly damaged bow section from the rest of the ship.

Naval engineers using a remote-controlled mini-sub conducted exploratory work today at the site where the Kursk nuclear submarine sank, laying the groundwork for the complex, two-month operation to raise the shattered ship.

A team of divers was today expected to begin preparation work on raising the wreck of the stricken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank last year with the loss of 118 lives.

Russia has been warned the risk of a radiation accident in the Arctic will increase if it rushes its attempt to raise the Kursk.

Russia has unexpectedly rejected a bid by a consortium of Dutch and Norwegian companies to help raise the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk.

The Russian Navy has today denied a report that one of its nuclear submarines had suffered an accident during recent exercises in the Barents Sea and couldn’t reach port under its own power.

A note left by a dying officer on the Kursk says the nuclear submarine was sunk by the explosion of one of its own torpedoes, reports a Russian newspaper.