A spokeswoman for the Dutch company Mammoet, which is leading the operation, said the massive barge which will drag the submarine into dock was almost in place.

The next stage in the process is to attach cables from the barge to the hull of the submarine. That will require two days of good weather.

Under the original schedule for the lifting, the operation was due to be completed by 15 September, but poor weather combined with technical problems has repeatedly pushed back the completion date.

Any further hitch could put the operation in peril as the Arctic winter draws in.

Bow left behind

But the head of Russia's Northern Fleet, Vyacheslav Popov, has asked journalists not to focus on the delays, the Russian Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Twelve bodies were recovered in an operation last year

"The most important thing is to ensure security of the divers' technical operation in all the stages," Commander Popov said.

The main phase of the operation - the cutting of 26 holes in the submarine's hull to attach the cables from the barge - was severely delayed by technical difficulties which forced divers to do the work by hand.

The bow, which held 18 torpedoes and more than 20 cruise missiles, has been separated from the rest of the sunken vessel and will remain on the seabed until next year.

Cause

All 118 crew died when the Kursk sank on 12 August 2000, after two massive on-board explosions.

Twelve bodies were recovered in an operation last year but President Vladimir Putin has promised that all the victims will be given proper burials on land.

The authorities are also keen to establish what caused the two explosions on one of Russia's most modern nuclear submarines.

The Russian navy initially blamed the sinking on a collision with a Western vessel.

A subsequent investigation suggested the cause was more likely to have been an accident in the torpedo bay.