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Putin goes undersea to sunken sailing ship in Bay of Finland

It sank in 1869 at a depth of 60 metres when it collided with another ship while making complex manoeuvres
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

GOGLAND ISLAND, Leningrad Region, July 15 (Itar-Tass) - President Vladimir Putin took a dive in a submersible to the sunken sailing ship Oleg in the Bay of Finland on Monday, July 15.

The Oleg is the biggest screw-driven vessel and the last wooden sailing ship with smoothbore muzzle-loading guns. It sank in 1869 at a depth of 60 metres when it collided with another ship while making complex manoeuvres.

The frigate is being examined under the Marine Glory of Russia project financed by the Russian Geographic Society. The ship will not be lifted but its replica may be created, complete with genuine artifacts recovered from the sunken ship.

Putin earlier made an underwater voyage in Lake Baikal when he submerged to its bottom in a submersible in 2009. In August 2011, he scuba dove in the Taman Bay to see the so-called Russian Atlantis - the submerged part of the ancient city of Fanagoria.