Families of Kursk victims to mark anniversary
Families of the 118 men killed when the submarine Kursk sank have gathered in the Russian port of Murmansk for a pilgrimage to the doomed boat's home base.
Several memorial events have been scheduled for the first anniversary of the sinking in the Barents sea.
The main service is to be held in the closed city of Vidyayevo, where the Kursk sailors were based.
"It is not easy losing your son. The pain will be with us for the rest of our lives," Nadezhda Neustroyeva said.
Under a chilly drizzle, Neustroyeva and other mothers, fathers, widows and children of Kursk victims pulled in to the train station in Murmansk then boarded a bus for Vidyayevo.
A small, sombre ceremony was held at a secondary school in Vidyayevo which eight of the Kursk sailors had attended. A memorial plaque engraved with the men's names was unveiled, Russian news reports say.
Churches across Russia are to observe the anniversary. A memorial service will also be held in Moscow's St. John the Warrior, one of the capital's most striking and well-known churches.
A costly international operation is under way to raise most of the Kursk's wreckage in mid-September, which Russian officials say could shed light on the cause of the disaster.
They also say it could comfort relatives by bringing the bodies of the loved ones from the sea bottom, though many relatives have said the submarine should be left alone.
