Moscow, Aug 29: Russia on Tuesday blamed collision with a foreign submarine for the Kursk tragedy in which all the 118 sailors on board died in the Barents Sea a week back. A Kremlin statement, jointly issued by President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Igor Ivanov, said torpedoes inside the Kursk exploded after the collision. Russia had dismissed opinions earlier that a collision could have caused the tragedy. “It was a tremendous tragedy which could have happened to any navy of any country,” the statement said. The Kursk-type submarine possesses highly reliable support system, but it is impossible to predict combination of large number of circumstances resulting in the tragedy, it added. The Russian government for the first time has officially rebutted charges of inadequacies of its navy preparedness to face any emergency. All operations to salvage the sub had begun immediately after the accident and Russia on the very first moment of the tragedy had approached foreign countries for assistance, the statement said. However, all explanations given for the tragedy were being scrutinized, and the government commission, the naval high command and experts were investigating all aspects of the accident. A final conclusion will be reached only after the sunken submarine was brought to the surface, it said. The efforts were now being directed at recovering bodies from the vessel lying at the bottom of the sea. —UNI