On a Russian nuclear submarine stole a machine gun and shot eight crewmen to death before barricading himself in the vessel's torpedo section.

Committed suicide before law-enforcers could lay their hands on him.

Russian sailor, 19, shoots down eight crewmen on nuclear sub

The Columbian

September 11, 1998

MOSCOW  - A 19-year-old sailor on a Russian nuclear submarine stole a machine gun and shot eight crewmen to death before barricading himself in the vessel's torpedo section at a northern port, officials said today. Alexander Kuzminykh, a draftee who's been in the navy since last year, went on a shooting spree overnight on the vessel in Severomorsk, near the northern city of Murmansk, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Eight sailors were dead and the standoff was continuing.

Russian sailor dies in sub shoot-out

BBC World service

September 11, 1998

The conscipt is reported to have locked himself in a nuclear-powered submarine.

The Russian Defence Ministry says a sailor who shot dead eight colleagues before barricading himself inside a nuclear-powered submarine committed suicide - contrary to earlier reports that he had been killed by the security forces.

It said the 19-year-old sailor, Alexander Kuzminykh, killed himself as security forces stormed the vessel at Murmansk in northern Russia. Attempts to persuade him to surrender had failed. Armed officers stormed the nuclear submarine just after midnight on Saturday local time, the Itar-Tass news agency said.

Kuzminykh's mother had been flown to the the naval base at Skalisty, near Murmansk, in northern Russia, before officers stormed the submarine. But she was unable to persuade her son to give himself up.

Kuzminykh had earlier been detained on punishment charges, but broke out from his quarters and seized the guard's automatic rifle and killed him. He then went below where he shot dead five more men. Two servicemen were also taken hostage and later killed, according to Russian news reports. A special anti-terrorist commando unit of the Federal Security Service (FSB) was sent to the base.

The Defence Ministry said there were no nuclear weapons aboard the Akula [shark] class submarine, part of the Russian navy's Northern Fleet. The submarine's nuclear reactor would not normally be in operation when the submarine was docked.

Russian sailor kills 8

The Arizona Republic

September 12, 1998

A Russian sailor who had barricaded himself inside the torpedo compartment of a nuclear-powered submarine after gunning down eight crew members was killed by Russian soldiers early today, the Russian news agency Intefax reported. Alexander Kuzminykh, 19, who was drafted into the navy last year, went on a shooting spree overnight Thursday on the vessel in Severomorsk, near the northern city of Murmansk. What prompted his actions was unknown.

Russian dies in bid to seize submarine

The Washington Post

September 12, 1998

Russian security forces stormed a nuclear-powered submarine early today and killed an armed conscript who had commandeered it after killing eight fellow crew members, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. Tass said the operation had been undertaken after midnight near the port of Murmansk. It said the young conscript, who had barricaded himself in the torpedo room, had died in the assault. The Tass report gave no further details.

Russian sailor shot dead after killing 8 on submarine

The Orange County Register

September 12, 1998

MILITARY: No motive was given for the spree, during which he holed up in the torpedo area.

A Russian sailor who had barricaded himself inside the torpedo compartment of a nuclear-powered submarine after gunning down eight crew members was killed by Russian soldiers early Saturday, a Russian news agency reported. "There was no way to preserve Alexander Kuzminykh's life," Federal Security Service officials in Murmansk were quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. Kuzminykh, 19, who was drafted into the navy last year, went on a shooting spree overnight Thursday on the vessel.

Russian sailor kills 8 on submarine

Philadelphia Daily News

September 12, 1998

A sailor reportedly being held in detention on disciplinary charges aboard a Russian submarine shot eight crew members to death then blocked himself in a compartment possibly containing explosives. Alexander Kuzminykh, 19, a draftee who's been in the navy since last year, went on a rampage Thursday night on the vessel in Severomorsk, near the northern city of Murmansk, the Defense Ministry said in a statement yesterday. He stole a machine gun and shot the crew members to death before barricading himself in.

Nuclear fears resurface after seizure of Russia sub

Los Angeles Times

October 5, 1998

MOSCOW--It was the middle of the night when Alexander Kuzminykh, a 19-year-old sailor, attacked a sentry aboard the nuclear submarine Vepr and killed him with a chisel. Grabbing the guard's AK-47 assault rifle, the sailor then killed seven other crew members and locked himself in a torpedo bay.

For 20 hours, the disturbed teenager held control of the submarine at a naval base near Murmansk last month. He repeatedly threatened to set the warship on fire and blow it up, creating the potential for what one scientist called a "floating Chernobyl."

In the end, Kuzminykh ignored the appeals of his mother and killed himself. But his act of desperation sent a shiver of fear through scientists and antinuclear activists already worried about Russia's deteriorating ability, at a time of economic upheaval, to maintain a sufficient level of security at hundreds of nuclear facilities, both military and civilian.

Alexander Kuzminykh

The CDI Russia Weekly

October 16, 1998

Last month, a young sailor killed eight of his fellow servicemen and threatened to blow up a nuclear-powered submarine at the Russian navy's Northern Fleet headquarters near Murmansk. After killing his comrades, 19-year-old Alexander Kuzminykh locked himself up in his Akula-class submarine's torpedo bay and threatened to blow the vessel up. He then committed suicide before law-enforcers could lay their hands on him.

Kuzminykh had passed all medical tests when he was conscripted at a St. Petersburg enlistment office. He was found fit even though he had suffered from a mental disorder and had been inhaling toxicants. In addition, Putilin said last week that Kuzminykh had volunteered to serve on a nuclear submarine and passed additional medical and psychiatric tests with high marks.

The editor-in-chief of the Defense Ministry's Military Medical Journal, Leonid Galin, said that the tests administered often fail to reveal all mental and psychiatric disorders. He noted that some latent disorders develop into an acute, and thus detectable, condition only in times of increased stress All these reports underscore a serious problem in the forces guarding Russia's nuclear arsenal. They also suggest that an above-average incidence of mental illness can be added to the catalogue of problems afflicting Russia's armed forces as a whole.

Teenage Sailor Kills Eight, Holds Russia Sub

A teenage conscript sailor killed eight crewmates aboard a Russian nuclear-powered submarine Friday and was barricaded in the torpedo room threatening to blow the vessel up, officials said. Sixteen hours after a shooting spree in the early hours of the morning,

Alexander Kuzminykh, 19, was still refusing to give himself up although officials played down his ability to damage the Akula-class hunter-killer sub, Russian media said. A spokesman for the Federal Security Service (FSB) told Interfax news agency that an anti-terrorist commando unit was ready to act after the youth's mother, flown in from St Petersburg, had failed to coax him out.

''He's determined and he has a very good grasp of how the submarine works,'' an FSB officer told Interfax. The Defense Ministry said there were no nuclear weapons aboard. The Akula class is powered by a single atomic reactor, which would normally not be in operation while the vessel was docked. A senior naval officer told Itar-Tass news agency that the sailor would find it virtually impossible to trigger an explosion without electricity, which had been cut off. The reactor was three compartments from the No.2 torpedo room. However, as a precaution, other nuclear submarines had been moved away from the hostage vessel, the officer said.

In figures that conflicted with the Defense Ministry, Tass put the total death toll at nine. The ministry, in a terse statement confirming the latest in a countless series of similar incidents in Russia's underfunded armed forces, said there was no danger to the vessel itself. ''An emergency occurred on a submarine of the Northern Fleet involving the death of personnel,'' it said.

Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, the head of the navy, had flown to the Skalisty base. Kuzminykh killed a sentry guarding the vessel in the middle of the night. Some reports said he used a chisel, others a hammer. After wounding an officer from another submarine he took the sentry's assault rifle and went below decks on his own. He shot dead five other conscripts and took a further two hostage before later killing them, Russian Television said. Around midday (0800 GMT), the teenager said he wanted to sleep. But he also made his threat to blow up the submarine.

The submarine, of a type known as Bars (Snow Leopard) by the Russians and codenamed Akula (Shark) by NATO forces, was commissioned in 1991, RIA news agency said. The 110-metre Akula is the frontline defense submarine of the Russian navy, capable of hunting silently for weeks on end and carrying missiles and torpedoes able to destroy enemy surface ships and other submarines.

Some can carry nuclear-tipped tactical weapons. The typical ship's company would be around 62, half of them officers. Although President Boris Yeltsin has promised to end conscription, the navy would typically have dozen or so draftees aboard a submarine of that size, one defense expert said. Murmansk is base for dozens of Soviet-era submarines, many of them nuclear powered, which rarely put to sea for want of fuel and even food.

Neighboring Norway has complained of pollution and nuclear contamination of the Arctic Sea and an environmental group there, Bellona, expressed alarm. ''The scariest part of this is we don't know if the nuclear reactor is being maintained,'' Bellona researcher Thomas Nilsen told Reuters in Oslo.

Similar incidents of havoc have become commonplace in the Russian armed forces since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communist rule deprived them of much state funding. Past shootings have been provoked by conscripts' anger at poor conditions or at endemic bullying by other servicemen.

One Western defense expert in Moscow played down the significance of the latest incident for the security of Russia's extensive military arsenal. Even if a conscript had access to nuclear weapons, only senior officers had control of them. ''The Americans have had similar incidents. The potential is always there. It does not present a particular threat,'' he said. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.

  

Russian submarine K-157 Vepr - 1998 incident

Shortly before midnight, 10 September 1998, Vepr was in port at Severomorsk. Alexander Kuzminykh, a 19-year-old seaman who was being detained on punishment charges, broke out from his quarters, killed his guard by stabbing him with a chisel, then seized his AK-47 assault rifle and shot dead five more sailors. He then took two hostages, whom he later killed.

He barricaded himself in the torpedo room, and for 20 hours, repeatedly threatened to set a fire to detonate the torpedoes. While Vepr had no nuclear weapons and her reactor was shut down, the detonation of her torpedoes while she was tied up at the dock would have ruptured her reactor, creating what the regional director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Vladimir Prikhodko described as "a nuclear catastrophe ... a second Chernobyl."

Attempts to persuade him to surrender failed. Kuzminykh's mother was flown to the naval base but was unable to persuade her son to give himself up. The situation remained a standoff until early on the morning of 12 September, when a special FSB anti-terrorist commando unit stormed the torpedo room. Early reports indicated that he had been killed by the FSB, but later reports indicated that he committed suicide. FSB officers regretted that "there was no way to preserve Alexander Kuzminykh's life."

Kuzminykh was found fit when he was conscripted at a St. Petersburg enlistment office, even though he had suffered from a mental disorder and had been inhaling intoxicants. When Kuzminykh volunteered for the submarine service he passed additional medical and psychiatric tests with high marks.