Episode 1 of 2. Kursk: 10 Days That Shaped Putin is a dramatic and forensic examination of events that took place in August 2000, after an explosion onboard the Kursk submarine trapped a group of survivors at the bottom of the Barents Sea. Why did the Russians take so long to accept international assistance? How did this crisis and subsequent reporting change Russia and importantly, how would it shape Putin’s own trajectory as the new President of Russia?

The film hears first-hand testimony from those involved from President Bill Clinton to families of the submariners and an American submarine Commander who witnessed it first-hand, taking us behind the closed doors of the White House, and below the surface with rescue divers who finally make it down to the stricken submarine.