Russians say BP rejected their help

MOSCOW, June 4 (UPI) -- U.S. authorities would be "appalled" if the Russian mini-submarine Mir were dispatched to help control the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Russian officials said.

U.S. filmmaker James Cameron said Russian-made Mir submarines could help BP with its efforts to control oil spilling from a well a mile underwater in the Gulf of Mexico.

Cameron used the Mir during filming of the 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

Anatoly Sagalevich, a director at the Russian Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, said he spoke with Cameron on dispatching the submersible to the Gulf of Mexico, Russian's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.

The Shirshov Institute owns the Mir mini-subs.

Cameron raised the issue of deploying Mirs during meetings with U.S. regulators Wednesday. Sagalevich said executives at BP rejected the proposal, the Russian news agency noted.

"We are Russians and if we go to the Gulf of Mexico with Mirs and do something there, the Americans would be appalled," he explained.