NEEDLE SILENCES WOMAN'S TIRADE

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- A woman was injected from behind with a sedative after
she became agitated at a meeting of families of the sunken Kursk submarine
crew, television footage released yesterday shows.

The footage clearly reveals a nurse administering an injection to a woman
who shook with rage after a prolonged outburst of anger during a session
with a deputy Russian prime minister last week.

The shot was administered openly in front of a hall full of people and
there was no evidence that any attempt was made to conceal the action.

The woman was being comforted by naval officers and there was no sign they
forcibly restrained her.

The nurse who gave the shot had attended other relatives in the hall,
injecting apparently willing patients.

Alexander Utkin, a psychiatrist at a Murmansk drug clinic, told Reuters the
use of mild tranquilizers in such circumstances was an accepted practice.

International media have been kept away from the base where Kursk relatives
are staying, and Western media have suggested family members may have been
mistreated.