Comment: The Kursk - 15 Years On From The Submarine's Sinking

The saying goes that "time is a great healer" and in the case of the Kursk the idiom appears to be true, at least in terms of President Vladimir Putin's reputation.

A poll, timed to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the sinking, reveals that 40% of Russians now feel that the state did everything possible to save the crew - up from just 23% in the months immediately following the disaster.

The loss of the Oscar II class submarine, one of the largest nuclear attack submarines ever built, brutally illustrated a Russian military in disarray and decline.

It also revealed a leader out of touch with his people, cosily enjoying Soviet-era levels of secrecy and authority.

Following a series of explosions, large enough to sink 7 aircraft carriers and picked up on seismographs thousands of miles away, which sent the boat and its 123 crew to the bottom of the Barents Sea it took the Russian Navy 12 hours to officially begin searching for the Kursk.

This despite 30 ships and 2 other submarines all taking part in the same exercise. Indeed the US and UK governments knew of the sinking before the Kremlin.

President Putin wasn't informed of the submarine's loss until 20 hours after its disappearance. But while rescue divers pounded on the hull in a desperate bid to find any survivors a bare-chested Mr Putin chose instead to remain sunning himself at his Black Sea villa.

The Russian Navy spurned international rescue offers, proclaiming that the Kursk had "descended to the ocean floor" after experiencing "minor technical difficulties" and that "everyone onboard was alive."

A blame game then ensued as NATO submarines were accused of colliding with the pride of the Russian Navy - sending one of her most valuable assets to the bottom.

10 days after the accident Vladimir Putin met with the victim's families, only for television cameras to capture the moment when a distraught mother was forcibly sedated as she refused to stop asking questions of the president.

Amid a growing outcry Mr Putin threw money at the problem, announcing a huge compensation package. He also set his sights on the media, repeatedly accusing them of lying and "exploiting this misfortune.. to gain political capital."

A year later the Russian leader conceeded he could have handled the affair better "I probably should have returned to Moscow, but nothing would have changed.. from a PR point of view I could have demonstrated a special eagerness to return."

More from Forces.tv: Russia To Spend £40bn Uniting Air Defences

15 years on and President Putin has been photographed in just about every piece of military hardware Russia has. Defence expenditure has tripled, although remains a fraction of Soviet levels, and Russia has taken part in NATO led search and rescue exercises.

But as sanctions bite, the oil price tumbles and economic problems grow many analysts think defence cuts are on the horizon - with the Russian Navy likely to be the biggest victim.