A meeting has been held to finally adopt the plan of a proposed salvaging operation in the Barents Sea.

Deputy Premier Klebanov made it clear that the Kursk operation will include two phases and take three months. He even said everything would be over by September 20. He does not say, however, when the operation is supposed to begin.

A contract is to be signed on May 20 with an international consortium. The consortium includes two Dutch companies Heerema and Smit TAK and Norway's Halliburton. According to Klebanov, in the next few days final negotiations will take place involving representatives of the Defense Ministry, Rubin Design Bureau, the Foreign Ministry, and Justice Ministry.