Comment

The Kremlin would have hidden the true facts from its own public and the western world. It would have shunned assistance from other nations. And its leadership would refuse to show any signs of emotion or apparent concern at the tragedy.

While democracy may have swept through Russia in the past decade, it does not appear to have reformed the mind-set of the country's political and military hierarchy.

It is a week since the stricken Russian submarine Kursk became stranded on the bed of the Barents Sea.

It took 48 hours for news of the disaster to be released. And since then the Russian public, the rest of the world and even the families of the crew have been treated with a mixture of misinformation, half-truths and propaganda.

Offers of assistance from the West were immediate, but were rejected until the repeated failure of half-baked rescue attempts by the Russian military.

Had such a tragedy occurred in the navy of any other nation, it is inconceivable that the head of state would remain on vacation, interrupting his seaside break only to tell the media: "Those dying in the Barents Sea did not merit our statesmen interrupting their summer holidays."

That is precisely what Russian President Vladimir Putin did and said, abruptly ending his holiday only yesterday when the weight of public opinion against him became too great to withstand.

Today our thoughts are with the families of the 118 crewmen of the Kursk, as the British rescue team is due to start attempts to reach the submarine.

But in the coming days and weeks questions must be asked of the Russian political and military leaders.

They must learn the lessons of this tragedy to embrace the notion of openness which goes hand-in-hand with their fledgling democracy.

Their first thoughts last Saturday should have been to the crew of the Kursk, not to how the disaster might reflect on the state.

To have welcomed the immediate support of other nations would have been a sign of strength for the Russian democracy, not a show of weakness.