MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to bestow posthumous awards on the submariners who were killed in a blaze that broke out on a Russian research submersible. The Kremlin press service published the corresponding order on Friday.

The president awarded the title of the Hero of Russia posthumously "for bravery and heroism while fulfilling their military duty" to Captains 1st rank Andrei Voskresensky, Denis Oparin, Konstantin Somov and Captain 2nd rank Dmitry Solovyev.

In addition, Captains 1st rank Vladimir Abankin, Sergei Danilchenko, Denis Dolonsky, Konstantin Ivanov and Nikolai Filin, Captain 2nd rank Alexander Avdonin, Captains 3rd rank Viktor Kuzmin and Vladimir Sukhinichev, as well as Lieutenant Colonel of the medical service Alexander Vasilyev and Captain Lieutenant Mikhail Dubkov were posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier reported that on July 1 a fire erupted onboard a deep-sea vessel in Russia’s territorial waters, which was designed to explore the near-bottom space and bottom of the World Ocean in the interests of the Russian Navy. Fourteen sailors lost their lives in the tragedy. In the end, the blaze was extinguished thanks to the crew’s self-sacrificing actions.