Co-chairmen of the Kursk International Foundation say that the Kursk may be safely lifted from the seabed, there is nothing impossible here from the technical point of view.

Foreign companies will be involved in the operation in the Barents Sea together with the Russian Central Design Bureau Rubin. The contract will be signed in mid-February.

The submarine will be cut into pieces, and the aft will be left on the seabed to be handled by Russian specialists alone at a later date. The operation will cost $70 million or so and the Kursk International Foundation relies on international organizations and the European Union for some of the money.