Deputy Premier Ilya Klebanov says the operation will be carried out in the autumn. The postponement is ascribed to financial problems. Klebanov says the money will be found in "the 2002 federal budget" and leaves it at that. All economists and financiers we approached are perplexed at how he is going to cover current expenses by the still non-existent budget.

Specialists also point out that the operation will require at least a "giant barge and a very powerful crane" which Russia does not have and cannot build in the remaining three or four months.

The Kursk might have come to its last berth.