Well, If You Can't Believe The Russians, Who Can't You Believe

From The Marmot's Hole:

Well, If You Can’t Believe the Russians, Who Can You Believe?


by Robert Koehler on July 27, 2010



in Inter-Korean Issues,North Korea,South Korea



The Hankyoreh — who else! — got their paws on the findings of a team of Russian naval experts who came to Korea to study the sinking of the Cheonan. Not surprisingly, the Russians argue that the Cheonan could have hit a mine:



On Monday, the Hankyoreh acquired a document titled “Data from the Russian Naval Expert Group’s Investigation into the Cause of the South Korean Naval Vessel Cheonan’s Sinking,” in which the Russian team stated, “The explosion time officially stated by South Korea [9:21:58 p.m.] does not coincide with the time of the last video footage taken on the day in question when the power current was cut off within the vessel [9:17:03 p.m.].” This statement hints that an uncontrollable situation may have arisen at least four to five minutes before the time announced by the South Korean team.

[...]

On its conclusions regarding the cause of the sinking, the Russian team wrote, “The claims that it was a non-contact external underwater explosion were borne out.” At the same time, it conjectured that the accident occurred when “the vessel’s propeller happened to get caught in a net as it was sailing through shallow waters near the coast, and as the vessel was trying to extricate itself to deep waters, its lower part struck a [mine] antenna and set off the triggering device.”



Now, far be it for me to ever doubt a team of Russians, but on the off-chance that they’re full of it, what would be in it for them other than to be a pain in the arse?



Oh, and the Hani is calling for — surprise! — a parliamentary re-investigation. Good grief…