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Vladimir Putin met with the families of the officers who died aboard a deep water submersible craft in the Barents Sea. The President expressed his condolences to the officers’ families and discussed measures to render assistance to them.

Taking part in the conversation were Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Defence Minister – Head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Armed Forces Andrei Kartopolov, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Nikolai Yevmenov, Head of the Defence Ministry’s Main Directorate of the Deep-Sea Research Alexei Burilichev.

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In July, a fire broke out aboard a deep-sea research submersible in Russia’s territorial waters. The craft was designed to study the seafloor and the bottom of the world ocean in the interests of the Russian Navy.

Thanks to heroic actions of the crew the fire was extinguished at the cost of the lives of 14 submarine sailors. The President signed an Executive Order awarding the officers with state decorations (posthumously).