En wat voor research vessel. Van globalsecurity,
The ministry did not identify the ship involved in the July 1 incident, describing it only as “a research submersible vehicle designated for studying the seafloor…in the interests of the Russian Navy.” Multiple Russian media outlets, however, reported it was a submarine known as the AS-12; another outlet pointed to a vessel with a similar design, the AS-31.
Nicknamed Losharik, after a Soviet-era cartoon horse made up of balloonlike spheres, both submarines are nuclear-powered vessels that have been the subject of speculation and rumor among Western naval analysts and military experts for years, curious about its design and capabilities.
According to one respected naval blogger, the AS-12 is a deep-diving special missions ship, operated by the Russian Navy’s primary research unit, the Main Directorate Deep Sea Research, or GUGI. Nuclear-powered, with a crew of up to 25, the ship has been in service since the early 2000s and is believed to be able to dive as deep as 6,100 meters.
https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2019/russia-190702-rferl01.htm
https://www.rt.com/russia/463228-7-captains-2-heroes-killed-fire/
