On January 31 the Main Military Prosecutor's Office rejected lawyer Boris Kuznetsov's request to resume a criminal case regarding the shipwreck of the Kursk nuclear submarine. According to the lawyer, "several seamen were alive in the ninth compartment for two days". Anatoly Ponomarenko, First Deputy Main Military Prosecutor, rejected this statement. According to Ponomarenko, specialists have investigated all circumstances of the tragedy and announced the results of the investigation. In addition, the state has taken unprecedented measures aimed at defending victims' relatives' rights.