MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin used stern language Monday to urge his military to correct flaws that plagued last month's exercises and marred his efforts to showcase Russia's might. The ambitious maneuvers of Russian strategic forces, which were attended by Putin and described as the largest in more than 20 years, were set back by failed missile launches from nuclear submarines on two consecutive days.
| Oh-oh, someone's gonna get impaled. |
Without mentioning any details in brief televised comments, Putin urged the military to thoroughly investigate the "shortcomings" and make sure they don't happen again. Speaking at the start of a meeting with government officials, Putin also said he would like to personally see proof that the flaws have been fixed - an apparent indication that he wants to watch repeat missile launches.
| "I paid mah two bits to see that rabbit dive into that glass o' water, and I'm a gonn-n-a see it!" |
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov responded that a team of investigators had already been working at the Northern Fleet. A missile launch from the Novomoskovsk nuclear submarine didn't take place as scheduled on Feb. 17, and the navy claimed that it had never been planned despite numerous earlier statements to the contrary. Government and military officials speaking on condition of anonymity said that the RSM-54 missile failed to come out of its silo because of an unspecified technical problem.
In an apparent attempt to save face after the failure, the navy sent another Northern Fleet nuclear submarine to the Barents Sea to repeat the launch the next day - only to fail again. The missile strayed from its designated flight path and was blown up by its automatic self-destruction system.
| Someone's got a new command in Norilsk counting trees. |
State-controlled television stations, which give blanket coverage to Putin's activities, avoided mentioning the failed launches.
| Isn't that like, you know, ... |
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