Funerals for 14 Russian sailors killed in submarine fire held privately

Fourteen Russian sailors who died in a nuclear submarine fire last week were buried today at the Serafimovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, amid tight security. A large number of Russian National Guard (RFNG) personnel were deployed around the cemetery and the press was not allowed inside the security fence.

According to Russian media, the 14 sailors will be buried near the memorial to the victims of the Kursk submarine disaster inside the Serafimovskoye cemetery.

"You must understand that the identities of most of the funeral attendees are secret and their appearances cannot be made public," a Russian Defense Ministry representative told AFP today. At the same time, 14 cars carrying coffins entered the cemetery one after another.

“It’s a great sadness,” said a young woman dressed in black, holding a wreath bearing the inscription “From friends and classmates.” Several St. Petersburg residents also gathered at the cemetery gates to pay their respects to the sailors. “I feel so sorry, as if they were my relatives,” said 60-year-old Natalya Stepanova. “They are real heroes.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has posthumously awarded the sailors with the highest honors. According to a decree published on the Kremlin website on July 5, Putin posthumously awarded four sailors the title of Hero of Russia, while the remaining 10 were awarded the Order of Courage.

Fourteen sailors died when a Russian navy research submersible caught fire on July 1 while mapping the seabed in the Barents Sea. The officers locked themselves in the burning compartment to fight the blaze and sacrificed themselves to save the submarine.

The victims included seven colonels, three lieutenant colonels, two majors, a captain in the navy and a lieutenant colonel in the medical service. The cause of the incident has not yet been determined, but the Russian Defense Ministry said the fire started in the submarine's battery compartment.