The international community had better help Russia or brace itself for the prospect of facing the music. This is what the latest statement of Deputy Premier Ilya Klebanov boils down to. Radiation background at the site of the catastrophe is normal for the time being, but what will it be like tomorrow?

Last autumn the Russian government reached an agreement with the international consortium - the nuclear submarine would be lifted from the seabed in summer 2001. The operation was evaluated at $80 million, most of the sum to be raised and distributed abroad. Russia was expected to raise 30% of the sum. Moscow has never found the money.

All of that is a bait for the West obsessed with environmental protection. Two nuclear reactors in the Barents Sea are a serious irritant for the international community.

Yevgeny Kolodkin, Director of the Institute of Catastrophes of the Udmurtian State University: Russia is the world leader in environmental pollution. The West is forced to help Russia out of elementary fear.

Moscow may actually pull it off. The international community may up its contribution to the Kursk foundation.