MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed a new head of the navy and presented awards to the crew of the AS-28 mini-sub and members of the rescue team, the Kremlin press service said Sunday. According to Kremlin officials, Putin relieved Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov of the duties of navy chief by a presidential decree and discharged him from military service. The president issued another decree appointing Vladimir Masorin, the Russian Navy chief of staff, the new Commander of the Russian Navy.
Admiral Mikhail Abramov, the recent North Fleet commander, will replace Masorin as chief of staff.
Putin met with Kuroyedov, Masorin, and Sergei Ivanov, the defense minister, Sunday. During the meeting, the president praised Kuroyedov's contribution to the development of the Russian navy, saying that it was in poor shape in 1997 when Kuroyedov inherited it.
"The recent exercises, including those I have attended, show that the navy is developing and that is certainly your merit to a large extent," Putin said addressing the admiral.
The president called the navy a key element of Russia's national security, including its nuclear component.
"We can neither ensure Russia's national security nor accomplish a variety of economic tasks without the navy," Putin said.
Kuroyedov, who turns 61 on September 5, had talked about retirement even before the accident with the AS-28 mini-sub. When invited to attend a press conference at RIA Novosti in July, he responded, "I am on vacation, and after Navy Day (July 31), I will retire."
The news that a Russian mini-submarine was trapped beneath the Pacific Ocean off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula came on August 4. The submersible with seven men aboard got entangled in fishing nets and cables at a depth of almost 200 meters (620 ft). It was three days before the British Scorpio rescue craft cut away the nets and cables, freeing the submersible.
On August 12, Masorin told a news conference that Russia had acquired advanced rescue equipment after the Kursk tragedy, but navy experts had not learned how to use it.
"We must change...and become responsible, honest, and professional people," he said.
During the August 30 session of the Military Council, attended by fleet commanders and their deputies, Masorin gave a report analyzing the AS-28 rescue operation.
On Sunday, the Russian president also signed decrees on awarding decorations to Russian and foreign seamen, the Kremlin press service said.
The AS-28 crewmembers were awarded Orders of Valor. Foreign rescuers, including five British, one Japanese, and two U.S. seamen, were also presented with awards.
