Lake Baikal: Putin Takes a Dive

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has dived in a tiny submarine to the bottom of the world’s deepest lake — Lake Baikal in Siberia. Anchor Marco Werman has details.

• Listen to a guided tour of Lake Baikal with Peter Thomson
• Read a chapter from “Sacred Sea” by Peter Thomson
• “Probing Lake Baikal” story from July 29, 2008

More information:

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-08-01/putin-dives-baikal-submarine.html
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/08/03/vladimir_putin_goes_down_where_its_wetter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/02/russia-vladimir-putin-lake-baikal
http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-06-15/Submersibles_return_to_mysterious_Baikal.html

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MARCO WERMAN: Now let’s take a trip 3500 miles north from Sulawesi to Siberia and the world’s deepest lake, Lake Baikal. Then let’s jump into a tiny submarine and head for the bottom. That’s what Vladimir Putin did last weekend. The Russian prime minister descended nearly a mile to one of the deepest parts of the immense lake. Baikal is the stuff of legend in Russia. It holds a fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water and that’s as much as there is in all the Great Lakes and Lake Baikal’s water is just about the purest on earth. But the lake faces environmental challenges from industry, development, and climate change. Scientists reached the bottom of Baikal for the first time only a year ago. Since then two mini subs have made more than 90 dives in the lake. Vladimir Putin took his dive on Saturday. Afterwards Putin promised to heed the warnings of environmentalists in protecting the lake. He’s already done that once. Three years ago Putin rerouted a planned oil pipeline to avoid the lake’s shore. You can get a sense of what Vladimir Putin experienced.on his way to the bottom of Baikal. Take a guided tour with The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson at The World.org.

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