Part of his duties included organising the fleet's exercises for summer 2000,the first in a decade. During the exercises the submarine "Kursk" suffered a series of catastrophic explosions and sank. Motsak was deeply involved in rescue attempts to reach the stricken submarine before officials learned that the entire crew of 118 had died. He commanded the salvage operation the following year. Motsak was among the fleet's officers to be criticised in the subsequent investigation into the disaster.