In recent decades, Lake Baikal has faced environmental problems caused by industrial pollution, mining and agricultural runoff. UNESCO designated the lake as a World Heritage Site, requiring Russia to ensure its environmental protection through law.
Mark Kisurin, a free diver who posted videos of the submerged statue, said that the knight was not the only form of pollution at the lake’s bottom.
“If only the angry [online] 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 wrote on Telegram last week.
He added: “Nobody except for a few dozen divers knows how much rusty metal and rotting wood from pre-war and even pre-revolutionary times lies along the shores of Baikal.”
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