Specialists from Rubin, the company that built the sub, have decided which parts they need to recover in order to "confirm theories to explain the explosions" which are thought to have scuppered the craft, Igor Baranov said.

The parts would be recovered next year, said Baranov, an engineer working for Rubin.

The bow section is all of the Kursk that remains on the bed of the Barents Sea after an October lifting operation recovered the rest of the vessel from the icy waters in the Russian Arctic circle, where it sank last year.

Russian authorities hope that by recovering parts of the bow section they will be able to discover what caused the pride of the Russian Northern Fleet to sink with the loss of all 118 crew in August last year.

Among parts the company wants brought to the surface are sections of the bulkhead, hull fragments, parts of the torpedo firing system and a high-pressure oxygen tank, the agency reported.

The front section of the submarine bore the brunt of the damage from a series of unexplained explosions which ripped through the vessel causing it to sink.

The bow, where missiles and torpedoes were stored, was sawn from the rest of the hull and left on the seabed while the truncated remains of the Kursk were towed to dry dock near the northern Arctic port of Murmansk last month.

Video footage filmed after the sub's return to shore showed extensive damage to the front section.

Investigators have so far recovered two recording devices -- nautical equivalents of "black boxes" which record underwater sounds near and around the submarine -- which they hope will help in establishing the cause of the accident.

Theories abound as to the cause of the sinking, with investigations favouring three: a collision with another vessel; a torpedo exploding in a firing chamber and the possibility that the sub hit a World War II mine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin set great political store by a promise to raise the 18,000-ton hulk after fielding bitter criticism over his perceived inaction at the time of the sinking.

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