The Prime Minister took a tour of the museum where Lake Baikal's ecosystem is being researched and where minerals and life forms are displayed.

Vladimir Putin was also told about the main species of fish native to the lake.

The Prime Minister also gave a rock and a freshwater copepod to the museum that he had found during his descent to the bottom of the lake aboard Mir-1.

Vladimir Putin shared his impressions about his descent to the bottom of Lake Baikal. "Baikal's deepest point is covered with an absolutely flat layer of pure sand," the Prime Minister said. "At the bottom you can see a lot of small copepods which all look like a real kindergarten," he added. According to Mr Putin, the Mir submersible passed by the slope of the lakeshore, where geological horizons and the tectonic fault could be clearly seen. "It looks like a canyon," Vladimir Putin added.