You're reading: Ukrainian president wants WWII submarine lifted from seabed

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has given Presidential Chief of Staff Serhiy Liovochkin and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov until September 15 to consider the possibility of lifting the Soviet-era submarine Shch-216, which sank in the northwestern part of the Black Sea during World War II.

The project will also include measures to establish a museum dedicated to this submarine, officially bury its crew and put up a monument, the president’s Web site has reported.

Foreign countries could be invited to contribute to the efforts.

Divers from the Black Sea Underwater Research Center came across the Shch-216 submarine lying at a depth of 52 meters on the seabed near Cape Tarkhankut in early July.

Archive documents confirm that it is one of the 16 missing Soviet Shchuka-type submarines. It sank following a depth bomb explosion during a combat mission in February or March 1944. Its entire crew was killed.