Russian researchers to hunt for tsarist gold in Lake Baikal

MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russian researchers are planning to hunt for missing tsarist gold, lost in the winter of 1919-1920 during the Russian Civil War, as part of their final dive of East Siberia's Lake Baikal on Thursday.

Among the many treasures rumored to have disappeared into Baikal's depths are several sacks of gold, taken from the Imperial Russian reserves by Admiral Alexander Kolchak's forces as they fled the Bolsheviks following the Russian Revolution of 1917. Many of the officers perished on the lake's ice as temperatures plummeted to -60 degrees Celsius (-76 Fahrenheit) and the gold sank with the onset of the spring thaw.

The crew, comprising lawmakers Artur Chilingarov and Vladimir Gruzdev, along with scientist Anatoly Sagalevich, will make a dive to the site where several train carriages believed to date back to the Civil War were earlier discovered.

"We are going to explore the bottom thoroughly in search of evidence that these carriages are indeed from the Civil War period," Gruzdev said. "With some luck, we could even find Kolchak's gold. That would be a perfect finale to the long and intensive scientific exploration of Baikal."

He added that a decision on whether to continue exploring the world's largest freshwater body next year will be made after the dive has been completed.

The research team earlier said that searching for archaeological artifacts was not the main goal of the expedition, which is largely focused on the lake's unique ecosystem.

Baikal, called the Sacred Sea by locals for its size and beauty, is the world's oldest and deepest lake, with an age estimated at 25 million years. It holds around 20% of the planet's freshwater and is home to hundreds of unique species of fauna and flora.

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