A gun fires a salute at the state funeral of the conscripts who perished on the Kursk. While no expense has been spared in honouring these fallen men, little effort was made in trying to save them. “They cared about saving their jobs, not about saving our children,” claims Nadezha Nekrasova, whose son Aloyosha died on the Kursk. The families of the sailors have endured lies, threats and cover-ups as the government attempted to hide its culpability in the tragedy. An official investigation exonerated everyone, concluding that the tragedy could not have been foreseen. However, this does not explain why the government failed to accept numerous offers of international aid. Nor why so much of the information that was released is now known to be lies. The government’s failure to tackle these issues has led to the 12 year old son of one sailor claiming “my daddy was killed by the state.” If Putin wants to gain acceptance as a world leader, surely he has to change the way he deals with domestic crises? Featuring archival footage of the rescue operation and the Russian Navy training.

Produced by ABC Australia