Underwater Knight Statue Removed from Lake Baikal Amid Environmental Concerns

An underwater statue of a knight has been extracted from Lake Baikal in Siberia following public concerns regarding its environmental impact, according to law enforcement officials.

The two-meter tall statue was found approximately 40 meters from the shoreline by a local diver. Reports indicate that the statue had been installed by a diving club the previous month as a tribute to Grigory Galazy, a celebrated Soviet conservationist affectionately known as the "Knight of Baikal" among his peers and students.

However, the installation of the statue drew significant criticism on social media, with many individuals condemning it as a source of pollution for Baikal, the world's deepest and oldest freshwater lake.

On Monday, the Baikal environmental prosecutor's office revealed that the statue had been removed by unidentified parties following their intervention.

Lake Baikal has faced numerous ecological challenges in recent decades, largely attributed to industrial pollution, mining activities, and agricultural runoff. The lake is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which imposes a legal obligation on Russia to protect its environment.

Mark Kisurin, a free diver who has documented the submerged statue through videos, highlighted that the knight statue was not the only form of waste present at the lake's bottom. He noted, "If only the angry commentators knew how many bottles, beer cans, rusty disposable charcoal grills, car tires, plastic and other household garbage we collect almost daily along the coast."

Kisurin further emphasized the extent of pollution by mentioning the significant amounts of rusty metal and decaying wood remnants from pre-war and even pre-revolutionary times that are scattered along the shores of Baikal, which remain largely unknown to the general public.