14 DAY TRIAL // On Tuesday, a Russian mini-submarine set a new world record as it reached the bottom of Lake Baikal, Siberia, the world's deepest lake. "Mir-1 is at 1,680 meters," said one of the members of the crew in a radio link-up to the barge used to lower the Mir-1 and Mir-2 submarines into the water of the lake. Previous measurements indicated that Lake Baikal had a maximum depth of 1,637 meters and that life forms might be living on the bottom of the lake. "This is a world record for a submarine diving in fresh water," also added one of the organizers of the expedition.
Among the members of the team that organized the expedition was Artur Chilingarov, leader of the submarine Arctic expedition that reached the North Pole and which took place in August, last year. The next phase of the Lake Baikal expedition, Chilingarov has explained, is to collect sample from the depths of the lake and establish what the effects produced by climate change are. The campaign will also be used as a means to draw more attention from Kremlin to the matters of environmental protection.
"We want to study and observe Baikal, preserve it," said Chilingarov on the day before the scheduled dive, when the submarines were going through the final inspection while being stationed in the small fishing port of Turka.
Chilingarov also added that the expedition had full political support, especially from Russia's ex-president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a fact easily reflected in the presence of the flag of the United Russia party on the barge carrying the two submersibles.
Estimations indicate that Lake Baikal contains about one fifth of the total amount of freshwater in the world, while it is also the world's deepest lake and houses more than 800 unique species.