At 22:30, the Northern Fleet declared an emergency, and the exercise was stopped. They reported the phenomenon to fleet headquarters but their report was ignored. Late on Saturday evening, nine hours after the boat sank, Northern Fleet commander Admiral Popov ordered the first seek for the submarine. The Northern Fleet duty officer notified the head of the fleet's search and rescue forces, Captain Alexander Teslenko, to stand by for orders. Teslenko's primary rescue ship was a 20-12 months-outdated former lumber service, Mikhail Rudnitsky, which had been converted to help submersible rescue operations. In accordance with the Russian press, the exercise involved more than 50 ships and submarines, forty assist vessels, and round eighty airplanes and helicopters. It was brought back aboard, repaired, and relaunched at 21:10. On Tuesday, 15 August, three days after the sinking, the crane ship PK-7500 arrived with the more manoeuvrable Project 18270 Bester-type DSRV (AC-36). The salvage tug Nikolay Chiker (SB 131) arrived early within the rescue operation. At 09:00, Mikhail Rudnitsky arrived at the placement. The crew of Mikhail Rudnitsky cannibalised the AS-32 to restore the AS-34.
On Tuesday Mikhail Rudnitsky lowered a diving bell twice, however couldn't connect to the sub. 36 The ship dispatched a helicopter to look for Kursk, however it didn't discover the sub on the floor