President Vladimir Putin described the investigation into the sinking of the submarine conducted under the guidance of the Prosecutor-General's Office as unprecedented in depth and objectivity and asked the prosecutor-general to inform the public of the causes of the disaster.
The Kursk nuclear submarine sank on August 12, 2000 during the Northern Fleet’s naval exercise in the Barents Sea. The cause of the disaster was a self-detonated explosion in a torpedo tube as a result of a peroxide hydrogen leak. The submarine’s crew of 118 died.