민군 합동조사단의 천안함 침몰사고 조사결과에 대해 러시아 주요 언론도 러시아 내 학자들이 제기하는 의문을 전해 주목된다.

구 소련 공산당 기관지이자 러시아 모스크바에서 발행되는 대표적인 주요 일간지인 '프라우다'(PRAVDA)는 지난달 31일 인터넷판 기사 '러시아, 한국 갈등에 휘말리다(Russia Becomes Involved in Korean Conflict)'에서 러시아 연방 군사령부의 소식통을 인용해 "천안함 사건 조사결과는 러시아 옵저버(참관단)들이 초기 조사과정부터 참여했다면 더욱 객관적이었을 것"이라고 전했다.

프라우다는 또 이번 조사결과에 대해 의문을 제기하는 러시아의 한국 담당 과학자의 말을 소개하기도 했다.

프라우다에 따르면 러시아 과학아카데미의 한국연구센터 책임연구원인 콘스탄틴 아스몰로프는 국제합동조사단의 조사결과에 대해 "많은 심각한 의문점을 낳았다"며 "어느 누군가는 러시아와 중국이 그런 조사결과를 믿지 않고 있다고 말할지도 모른다"고 말했다.

	▲ 1번이라고 쓰인 어뢰잔해물. ⓒ인터넷 사진공동취재단

프라우다는 "러시아가 남북한 사이의 갈등에 휘말려드는 것은 바람직하지 않다"고 분석했다. 이어 프라우다는 "중국은 러시아가 (조사)활동을 벌이는 동안 기다릴 것"이라며 "북한이 천안함 파괴에 관여됐다는 확인을 받을 때까지 유엔안보리 회의에 이 문제를 회부하지 않을 것"이라고 전망했다.

현재 러시아는 천안함 조사결과를 검증하기 위한 조사단을 파견한 상태이다.

	▲ 러시아 주요 일간지 '프라우다'의 지난달 31일자 영문 온라인판 기사.

Russia Becomes Involved in Korean Conflict
31.05.2010 Source: Pravda.Ru       
 
A group of Russian experts arrived in Seoul, South Korea, today to study the results of the investigation of the sinking of the Cheonan corvette, which blew up and sank in the Yellow Sea on March 26, Itar Tass reports.
 
A spokesman for the defense ministry of South Korea said at a news conference that the specialists would examine the fragments of the sunken vessel recovered from the bottom of the sea.

A group of military and civil experts from South Korea, the USA, Britain, Australia and Sweden said at the end of May that the Cheonan had been destroyed as a result of the torpedo attack. The torpedo, the experts said, was fired from a North Korean submarine. They demonstrated the torpedo pieces supposedly retrieved on the wreck site from the sea floor. It was said that the marks on the fragments of the torpedo indicated its country of origin ? North Korea.

Russia Today: Second Korean war possible

South Korea also invited Chinese experts to review the results of the international expert commission. The South Korean authorities believe that the issue of North Korea’s responsibility for the destruction of the SKorean naval boat must be submitted to the Un Security Council. Russia and China are included on the list of its five members and hold the veto right at the organization.

A source at the General Headquarters of the Russian Federating Armed Forces said that the investigation of the incident with the Cheonan would have been more objective if Russian observers had taken part in the process from the very beginning.

In the meantime, South Korea continues to hold military drills to set its troops on high alert in case of possible attack from the North. North Korean officials stated that they refused to observe the agreement with the South about the prevention of inadvertent clashes between the navies of the two countries. Pyongyang also said earlier that it had cut all ties with the South.

The development of the crisis largely depends on the positions of other nations that play key roles in the region. The USA, which has a 28,000-strong contingent in South Korea, fully supports its ally. US official stated that the United States would conduct naval drills with the participation of the South Korean navy. However, China, North Korea’s guardian, is not willing to sing in the choir with the USA and its allies. A high-ranking Chinese official stated that it was a very complicated issue and that china was studying the information arriving from various sources.

“The results of the investigation conducted by the international expert team have raised a number of serious questions. One may say that Russia and China have not believed those results. There are some facts which do not match the whole story. For example, there are only soldiers, and not even one officer on the list of those killed in the sinking of the South Korean vessel. Moreover, the victims did not have either contusions or bone fractures, as it usually happens during torpedo attacks. The North Korean brand on the torpedo was made in the Southern, not the Northern style,” Konstantin Asmolov, a chief scientists with the Center for the Korean Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.

Some experts believe that Russia is getting involved in the conflict between the two Koreas.

A group of Russian experts will have Russia involved in it, which is not desirable. China is just waiting, while Russia is being active. However, Russia will not submit the problem for discussion at the Un Security Council until it receives the confirmation of North Korea’s involvement in the destruction of the vessel.